National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday met with former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular JD (S) president HD Deve Gowda in Bengaluru.
The former chief minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy and other JD(S) leaders were also present at the meeting at the residence of Dewe Gowda.

Talking to media persons after the meeting, the former J&K Chief Minister said, “I was here to thank him (Deve Gowda) for what he did as Prime Minister of India and for what he did for my state. We had a free election. When nobody wanted to come there, when people were afraid of terrorism, he as PM came, inaugurated many development projects there. He also went to Rajouri and many places close to the border to show the world that Kashmir is part of this nation.”

Further, Abdullah said that these meetings are important because they will unite the opposition for the Lok Sabha election in 2024.

The JD(S) chief apparently remains non-committal on joining the Opposition parties banding together for the 2024 polls against the BJP.

“Show me one party which has not associated with the BJP, either directly or indirectly. Show me one party in the whole country, then I will answer,” Gowda said on Tuesday responding to a question on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s efforts to bring together non-BJP parties.