Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 22: Amidst prolonged speculation, the Karnataka-based Janata Dal (Secular) formed by the former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday finally joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The announcement was made after senior JDS leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, the former prime minister’s son, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP boss JP Nadda in Delhi. No details have been released so far about seat-sharing in the southern state.
A photograph posted by Mr Nadda on X shows the leaders engaged in discussions and another shows them standing shoulder-to-shoulder, with the BJP bosses wrapped in a ceremonial shawl. “I am happy JDS has decided to be part of National Democratic Alliance. We wholeheartedly welcome them. This will strengthen NDA and vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji for ‘New India, Strong India’,” he said.
Last week Mr Kumaraswamy, when asked about talks his party had worked out a pre-Lok Sabha election alliance with the BJP, had said “more (details) will be revealed after Ganesh Chaturthi.” But he had also brushed aside the BJP’s earlier claims that the JD(S) had agreed to join the alliance on being promised four seats in the Old Mysuru region in the Lok Sabha elections out of the 28 seats in Karataka. The region had seen the BJP losing ground (and votes) to the Congress in the May Assembly election.
Speculation was rife ever since the news of the JDS-BJP alliance was ‘broken’ by senior BJP leader and ex-Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who said the smaller party would contest from Mandya and three other seats. Mr Yediyurappa said the deal would help the BJP win “25 or 26 seats.”
“The BJP and the JD(S) will form an alliance. (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah has agreed to give four Lok Sabha seats (to the JD(S)). This will strengthen us in a big way. It will facilitate wins in 25 to 26 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka,” Yediyurappa said amid speculation that Deve Gowda held meetings with Shah and Nadda during a recent visit to Delhi.
The JD(S) had been performing poorly in the last two elections in Karnataka. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the JD(S) won just one seat and secured only about 9 per cent of votes. Results were slightly better in the Assembly election held earlier this year, in which it claimed around 14 per cent of the votes but only 19 seats, down from 37 in 2018.
The BJP, on the other hand, polled 36 per cent of the votes in the Assembly election and, crucially, swept the state in 2019, leaving many wondering about this alliance when buzz first surfaced. It is believed that the JD(S) still has some influence in eight Lok Sabha segments in the Old Mysuru region, which it allegedly wanted as part of the deal with the BJP. Those eight also include Tumkur, the seat JDS patriarch HD Deve Gowda contested and lost in 2019.
Also, the JDS’ influence over Vokkalinga voters will strengthen the BJP’s hand. And that may be the kicker, as the Congress is seen as having made successful inroads into the traditionally BJP-voting community.
The JD (S) has remained neutral to the INDIA and NDA coalitions since suffering a massive loss in the recently held Assembly polls in Karnataka and had been nursing major grievances against the Congress which managed a clear majority at the cost of the JD(S).
