"Yediyurappa assured me that he would allocate Rs 1,000 crore for development works in my assembly segment over the next three years. He has sanctioned Rs 300 crore after becoming chief minister in July and I met him at his home-office in Bengaluru in August," Gowda told on phone from Mandya, about 100 km southwest of Bengaluru-Mysuru state highway.
The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) expelled Gowda from the regional party after former assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar disqualified him in late July for defying the party's whip and abstaining from the Assembly session on July 23 when former JD-S Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy lost the trust-vote and resigned, leading to the fall of the coalition government.
"I resigned from the assembly segment in July in protest as no development funds were allocated to my constituency by the coalition government during its 14-month tenure," said Gowda.
Two more JD-S rebels A.H. Vishwanath from Hunsur in Mysuru district and K. Gopalaiah from Mahalakshmi Layout in Bengaluru northwest resigned with Gowda for the same reason: lack of funds for the development of their respective Assembly segments.
Of the 17 rebels, 14 were from the Congress who too were expelled from the party after then Speaker disqualified them for adefying' their party whip.
"Yediyurappa sanctioned Rs 800-crore development funds to my constituency during his 3-year tenure as Chief Minister over a decade ago when the BJP came to power in the southern state for the first time in 2008 and completed its 5-year term in April 2013. He and I belong to the same (Mandya) district as he was born, and grew up at Bookarekane though he shifted later to Shivamogga in Malnad region", recalled Gowda.
Gowda is hoping the Supreme Court will quash the disqualification and enable him to re-contest from the same constituency (KR Pet).
"I am waiting for the apex court verdict to decide as revocation of disqualification will make me eligible to re-contest from the same seat as an Independent or from any other party," said Gowda, declining to say if he would join the ruling BJP for its ticket.
Though there are no industries for manufacturing and generating blue collar jobs, Mandya has sugar, rice and edible oil mills, silk reeling units and textile parks where locals, including the youth, work.
"The funds will be used for infrastructure projects, including roads, highways, building tanks to preserve water for irrigation of farms and livestock, hydel plants to tap renewable energy," Gowda added.
( With inputs from IANS )