JD(S) MLA GT Devegowda speaks out at party, sparks speculation of switching parties

Former higher education minister GT Devegowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) hit out at former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy for favouring another minister from Mysuru district, and said he had told the party that it would lose a byelection in the district.

Devegowda, who spoke to reporters in Mysuru on Thursday, reserved his ire for Kumaraswamy saying that the former chief minister had told the people of Devegowda’s Chamundeshwari constituency that were he to become the chief minister he would ensure that Devegowda would be treated on a par with him.

Devegowda would go on to do a giant-killing act by defeating former chief minister Siddaramaiah in the assembly elections last year, after the latter switched from his constituency of Varuna to contest from Chamundeshwari.

He expressed displeasure over Kumaraswamy’s closeness to former tourism minister Sa Ra Mahesh. “From the day Kumaraswamy became chief minister, Mahesh was the acting chief minister, everybody knows this. He has experience and has built this party at the state level, and I think they feel that he will build this party nationally,” Devegowda said.

When asked why he had made such a statement, Devegowda said he was very relieved now because he no longer had to bear humiliations. However, he said he was let down by the portfolio assigned to him in the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government that came into being after the polls.

“I was given the higher education portfolio in the coalition government even though I made it clear that I didn’t want it. The thinking was that I would quit from the Cabinet within two months, but I stuck on and did very well,” Devegowda said.

Devegowda said that Kumarswamy had told him to ensure that the party wins the byelection to the Hunasuru constituency, one of 17 seats that fell vacant after rebels from the coalition ensured its downfall and were disqualified in the process.