BENGALURU: Amid speculations of the BJP and the JD(S) coming together ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday questioned if the latter can stay true to its ideology if an alliance did happen.
Taking to his official handle on social media platform X, Shivakumar posted, “I will be happy to see the BJP and JD(S) contesting the next Lok Sabha elections as allies. However, I am not sure how the JD(S) would project its secular ideology if such an alliance does work out. There will be a big question mark on its political future. However, I don’t object to them coming together.”
Earlier, on Friday, former chief minister BS Yediyurappa claimed that the BJP had sealed a tie-up with the JD(S) ahead of the next general elections.
The two parties, according to the BJP veteran, came to an electoral understanding not just for the Lok Sabha elections but also for the local body polls.
“I am happy that Deve Gowda-ji met Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and an understanding has already been reached for four seats. I welcome the coming together of our two parties,” Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Jagdish Shettar mocked the alliance between the BJP and the JD(S), calling it the coming together of two ‘helpless’ parties.
“The BJP and the JD(S) have every right to enter into an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. They were in talks for an alliance before the Assembly elections but it didn’t work out. Now, there’s renewed speculations of them coming together. Such alliances based on political convenience tend to corrode the electoral trust of people. The credibility of parties, which enter into such alliances, is called into question as well,” Shettar, who was formerly with the BJP, said.
On Wednesday, top JD(S) leaders went into a huddle at the residence of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to gauge the opinion of MLAs and senior leaders on an alliance with the BJP. The meeting was held in the presence of party patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.
For the JDS, which won only 19 seats in the Assembly elections earlier this year and is struggling to retain its cadre, the alliance does come as a shot in the arm.
The BJP, which curries electoral favour from the Lingayat community in Karnataka, will now hope to tap into the JDS’ core vote base amongst the Vokkaligas the other prominent communities in Karnataka. (ANI)