Deve Gowda okay with Mamata, Mayawati as PM candidates

With 2019 Lok Sabha elections barely 10 months away, opposition is uniting its strength and looking for options to pose a candidate opposite Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a latest development, Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda stated that the party would have no objection if West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati are fielded as prospective PM candidates.

Sharing his opinion to ANI, Deve Gowda said, “Don’t try to create any type of unnecessary confusions. I have already told that I am running a coalition government here with Congress. First, Congress said Rahul Gandhi will be the prime ministerial candidate. A PTI (Press Trust of India) correspondent said Congress will propose Mamata Banerjee or Mayawati as PM candidate as they want a woman candidate, I told the journalist, I have no problem with it.”

Though the JD(S) leader supports Mamata or Mayawati as PM candidate, Congress considers Rahul Gandhi as their PM‘s face. Few weeks back, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had said, “Naturally, the Congress president would be the only face to be projected. The Congress would fight this election by putting forward our leader.”

Deve Gowda also shared his opinion on the ongoing NRC draft and said the matter could have been solved diplomatically. He also alleged that BJP is trying to make it (NRC draft) a political issue, but do not want to solve it. He added that the matter can be solved ‘amicably and peacefully’.