BSY said BJP will give JD(S) 4 of Karnataka's 28 Lok Sabha seats, making it official that the two parties will jointly take on the Congress.
HD Deve Gowda with PM Narendra Modi.
In what comes as official confirmation after months of discussions and hints, former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa made a crucial announcement regarding the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Friday, 8 September.
The Lingayat strongman said the BJP was forming an alliance with the JD(S) in Karnataka.
The open acknowledgement of the alliance plans at a time the JD(S) has been repeatedly insisted that it would contest the Lok Sabha polls alone has generated considerable interest.
Political circles have been abuzz with a possible JD(S)-BJP alliance since June this year when former prime minister ad JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda first dropped hints of being open to the idea at a press conference.
The decision was announced by Yediyurappa after Deve Gowda held talks with the BJP’s central leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party national president JP Nadda in Delhi on 7 September.
Deve Gowda flew to the national capital on Thursday as the Union government extended the G20 summit invitation to the former prime minister. In the meantime, he is said to have held talks with the BJP about fighting the general elections together in Karnataka.
It may be noted that this would be the second successive parliament elections where the JD(S) is contesting by forming a coalition with national parties. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the regional party joined hands with the Congress in the state.
Asserting that JD(S) would contest in four Lok Sabha seats, BJP Parliamentary Board member Yediyurappa affirmed that “the regional party will make an alliance with the BJP”.
Yediyurappa told reporters on Friday: “BJP will have an understanding with former PM Deve Gowda-led JD(S) for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
“As part of the poll understanding, the JD(S) will contest in four Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 constituencies,” he said.
“BJP and JD(S) will have an understanding. Union Minister Amit Shah has agreed to give four Lok Sabha seats to the JD(S),” Yediyurappa said.
He further said: “This has given us great strength and this will help us in winning 25 or 26 Lok Sabha seats together.”
JD(S) is likely to contest in Hassan, Tumakuru, Chamarajanagar, and Mandya Lok Sabha seats, sources told South First.
The BJP swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka by winning 25 seats, while an independent backed by it won one seat. The Congress and JD(S) emerged victorious in Bengaluru Rural and Hassan, respectively.
This alliance between the two prominent political entities in Karnataka could potentially reshape the political dynamics in the state and significantly impact the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Deve Gowda met Prime Minister Modi, Amit Shah, and Nadda, and held a detailed discussion about fighting in coalition in the upcoming general elections in Karnataka.
On condition of anonymity, a senior JD(S) leader told South First: “The main purpose of Deve Gowda’s visit to Delhi was holding talks with the BJP high command to make an alliance for the general elections. The party has plans of contesting in five to six parliament seats.”
“We had demanded around six seats, mainly from South Karnataka. They have agreed to four seats now. We are not in a position to ask for more seats because the BJP is already representing 25 seats in the state and also due to other organisation issues in the cadre.”
“There is likely to be another round of talks to finalise the seats. Then the party will make its official announcement. Since the decision to fight the elections in an alliance is made by the high command, it is too early to comment,” said the JD(S) leader.
Earlier, Deve Gowda, hinting at a possible alliance with the BJP, had said that every political party in the country were, one way or the other, connected with the saffron party.
He said that he wasn’t sure which party was communal and insisted that every single party in India has had associations with the BJP — directly or indirectly.
Deve Gowda, now 91, was addressing his first press conference after the results of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls — which were announced on 13 May.
Pointing to the presence of strong regional parties in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, the JD(S) supremo called on cadres to strive towards strengthening and nurturing the party by giving more strength to youth in Karnataka.
As political temperatures rise, all eyes will be on how this strategic partnership unfolds in the coming months, with the potential to reshape the electoral landscape in Karnataka.
(With PTI inputs)
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