BENGALURU: Nikhil Kumaraswamy, a Janata Dal (Secular) leader and the son of former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, on Sunday morning met with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader BS Yediyurappa at his residence in Bengaluru.
BJP MLA Muniratna also accompanied Nikhil Kumaraswamy on the visit to the former Karnataka CM’s residence.
“As we all know JDS and BJP are now a part of the NDA alliance. On that basis, Mr Yediyurappa is one of the tallest leaders in Karnataka. So I just came here to take his blessings personally. We all know that they share a good bond,” Nikhil Kumaraswamy said after the meeting.
“Even in 2006-07 when BJP and JDS had a coalition, HD Kumaraswamy’s tenure has given a lot of developments and so did Yediyurappa in his tenure,” he said.
On being asked about the JD(S) leaders including Vice President Syed Shafiulla Saheb’s resignation from the party, Nikhil Kumaraswamy said that the party would be taking up the matter for discussion.
“I don’t want to comment on that as of now. There are 3-4 people who have shown their disregard but later on, we will have a discussion on it,” he added.
Syed Shafiulla Saheb announced to cut his ties with the party days after JDS joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the ensuing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Shafiulla, in his resignation letter to the JD(S) Karnataka president said that he had opted to stay outside the party for the period during which our state unit of the party had joined with the BJP to form the state government.
“I would like to state that I have worked hard and served the party in order to serve the society and the community only because our party believes and was standing on the secular credentials, except when our leader Sri Kumara Swamy had earlier joined hands with the BJP to form the government in the state. I also like to mention that, I had opted to stay outside the party for the period during which our state unit of the party had joined with the BJP to form the state government,” Shafiulla Saheb said in the letter.
Apart from Saheb, many leaders including M Srikanth and UT Ayesha Farzana also resigned from the party.
The Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday announced an alliance with the BJP in Karnataka and formally joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy made the announcement after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda in the national capital.
The JD(S) had aligned with the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, however, the parties faced a drubbing as the BJP swept 25 out of the 28 seats in Karnataka and even an independent candidate supported by the BJP won from the Mandya constituency. (ANI)