Mangaluru: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda said on Monday that the entire coastal region in Karnataka is a fortress of secular forces including the Janata Dal (S).
Addressing reporters, Mr Deve Gowda, who came to campaign for party candidate Mohiuddin Bava in Mangaluru North constituency, said the JD(S) always had close relations with the people of Dakshina Kannada.
"We had five zilla panchayat members and three MLAs who got elected from here in the past," he said.
Urging the voters to support Bava, who switched to the JD(S) after the Congress denied him ticket, Mr Deve Gowda said Bava had dedicated five years of his life to public service in the constituency.
He claimed surveys among voters favoured Bava and his party chose him as candidate after observing his work on the ground for Mangaluru North constituency.
The former Prime Minister alleged that Bava was deliberately denied ticket by the Congress.
Without naming the party, he questioned who was responsible for the BJP coming to power after a secular government was formed under the JD(S). "We did not go after anyone to form the government, but the party approached us," he said.
Mr Deve Gowda said during HD Kumaraswamy's tenure as Chief Minister, several schemes beneficial to the common man were launched.
JD(S) leaders M B Sadashiva, Mohammed Kunhi, Akshith Suvarna, Vasanth Poojary, and Sumathi Hegde were among those present.
Elections to the 224-member Karnataka assembly will be held on May 10 and results will be declared on May 13.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)