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Hegde agrees to meet Deve Gowda

In a significant development that may hasten unity of the Janata Dal, Jantata Dal (United) Tuesday announced its leader Ramakrishna Hegde had agreed to meet his bitter political rival, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

"The meeting will take place shortly," JD(U) Karnataka unit president C Byre Gowda told reporters in Bangalore.

Byre Gowda said he and other state leaders met Hegde on Monday in a bid to ensure a smooth merger of JD(U) and JD(Secular) in Karnataka and described Hegde's decision as 'a significant step' towards uniting the two factions.

Asked about JD(S) president Gowda's response, he said, "We have prepared the ground. Communication is on with them." The meeting would take place without any conditions tagged to it, he added, without specifying the timeframe.

To a query, he admitted that it was the 'personal ego' which had stood in the way of the two leaders and not any policy or programme.

Leaders of both parties have initiated moves to bring about a truce between Hegde and Gowda, both of whom have refrained from making any attacks on each other recently.

Referring to the merger move, Byre Gowda welcomed Deve Gowda's statement that the JD(S) would support JD(U) candidates in the civic elections and said his party would reciprocate the gesture.

The JD(S) in line with its no-BJP, no-Congress policy, has been insisting that JD(U) come out of the NDA to give a decisive push to unity efforts.

Deviating from the central leadership's political line, the Karnataka JD(U) recently passed a resolution demanding the resignation of the Vajpayee ministry, of which party president Sharad Yadav is a member, and urged Yadav to come out of the NDA.

Agencies

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