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Hegde rules out rejoining the JD

Lok Shakthi president and former Karnataka chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde today ruled out his rejoining the Janata Dal.

Hegde, however, said alliances with other parties for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election were not "unwelcome".

Asked about Union Human Resources Development Minister S R Bommai's call to erstwhile Janata Dal leaders to return to the fold, Hegde shot back, "I wish you had asked him the simple question. What was he doing when I was expelled from the party arbitrarily and without notice? Bommai was a member of the Janata Dal. I would like to know why and for what reasons I was expelled. I had played an important role in building the JD."

He recalled that leaders like Chandra Shekhar, Ajit Singh and Bommai were not in favour of formation of the Dal while former prime minister H D Deve Gowda had actively opposed it.

To another question, Hegde said the Janata Dal would not exist after the parliamentary election and there could not be any understanding with a "diseased and dying party".

He was not ready to compare the JD with the Congress, which he stated had survived many crises. "We are not opposed to alliances. We will decide when the time comes and we will apply our mind in the interest of the country, the state and the party," he added.

UNI

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