JD rival factions clash for Bangalore office

BANGALORE, JULY 25: The two Janata Dal factions had a showdown on Sunday when the supporters of Chief Minister J H Patel tried to force their way into the party office on Race Course Road here. In the scuffle, C Byre Gowda, the newly appointed president of JD (Patel group) was injured. Byre Gowda sustained injuries on both forearms as a group of Deve Gowda supporters tried to pull his hands through the iron railings of the main gate which was locked. His cabinet colleagues K N Nage Gowda, Bache Gowda and some of the policemen who were on duty came to his rescue.

Byre Gowda said in his complaint to Highgrounds Police that he had gone to the party office and found it locked. Nearly a hundred supporters of Deve Gowda who were inside menacingly approached the gate where he was standing and before he could talk to them, he was pulled by his hands. “I escaped narrowly as otherwise my hands would have been twisted,” he told mediapersons.

Reacting to the incident, Deve Gowda demanded the dismissal of theGovernment.“I want the Governor to impose President’s rule in the State. No fair and free elections can take place if we have cabinet rank ministers trespassing into the party office belonging to us. If these people are allowed to continue in power, we are sure to have problems in the future,” he said. In a late evening development, general secretary of Deve Gowda faction C Narayanaswamy filed a counter complaint before the Highgrounds police against C Byre Gowda, seeking police protection against dispossession of the office building.