BENGALURU: Sending a clear signal on his political ambitions ahead of the 2019 elections, JD(S) chief and former PM HD Deve Gowda performed a housewarming ceremony at his New Delhi residence, 5 Safdarjung Lane, on Friday. The low-profile ceremony took place a day after Gowda met Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in a bid to stitch up an anti-BJP front.The house, which Gowda was occupying before he became PM in 1996, is considered lucky by the family. The housewarming follows renovation of the houe and vaastu changes made on the advice of an astrologer. As Naidu came calling on Thursday, Gowda’s son and Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy declared that the 2019 Lok Sabha polls would be a repeat of 1996. In 1996 too, Naidu had played a pivotal role in bringing together parties under the Congress-backed alliance which made Gowda PM."By god’s grace, my physical and mental faculties are efficient. That may not be the only eligibility to become PM," Gowda told TOI before leaving for Dubai.

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