Former PM warns Congress not to take JD(S) for granted

New Delhi: Barely six weeks into the government formation in Karnataka, strains have started showing between JD(S) and the Congress, the ruling coalition partners with former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday issuing a terse warning to the Congress that it should not take the regional party for granted.
The former PM also hinted that they may not possibly fight the 2019 parliamentary elections together
“Six non-NDA parties may have attended the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy as chief minister to present a united opposition, but it is not necessary that they will contest together in all states in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” Gowda told reporters in New Delhi.
In a show of unity, top leaders of the Congress, the TMC, the BSP, the AAP, the CPM and the TDP had attended the ceremony in May in Bengaluru.
Gowda said the Samajwadi Party and the BSP are still discussing sharing of 40 seats each in the general elections in Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, the TMC and the Congress have almost reached a consensus to fight together. But in other states, including the NCP in Maharashtra, the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the TRS in Telangana are yet to take a stand.
In the same breath, the JD(S) supremo also demanded a Lok Sabha seat from its alliance partner the BSP. “We have decided to give away one parliamentary seat in Karnataka to BSP. In return, I will ask the BSP to give one seat in Uttar Pradesh to K Danish Ali (JD(S) secretary general). In Kerala, the LDF will give one seat to us,” he said.
The former PM also clarified that he was in New Delhi not to meet Congress leaders and complain against former CM and Congress-JD(S) coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah, but to attend a meeting of a parliamentary.