Bangalore, June 29: Former prime minister and JD-S president H D Deve Gowda today ruled out his party's merger with any other outfit of the Janata parivar and asserted that the focus would be on turning the outfit into an alternative for the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka. Addressing a party workers' meet here, Gowda said there was now no confusion left on the merger and called upon them to strive for strengthening the party.

The party's main opponents would be the Congress and the BJP and not Janata parivar outfits, he said, adding he, the party's state unit president Siddaramaiah and other leaders would embark on a state-wide tour to strengthen the party.

Stating that the party's main objective was to defeat the ruling Congress and the BJP, Gowda recalled that efforts were made in the past to unite Janata parivar outfits but they were unsuccessful.

The Congress and the BJP, he said, were two faces of the same coin.

He also lashed out at the S M Krishna government in the state accusing it of "misgovernance".

Bureau Report