NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu meets JD(S) chief H D Devegowda

“Shrimati Droupadi Murmu has requested Mr. Deve Gowda for his support for the presidential polls. He has said that a decision will be conveyed after the meeting of the parliamentary board (of the JDS),” Kumaraswamy said after the meeting on Sunday.

The JD(S) hinted last month that the party with 32 MLAs and two Members of Parliament would be backing Draupadi Murmu despite initially being part of an opposition grouping that was attempting to field a consensus candidate. Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy were among the opposition leaders who participated in a meeting held in June at the instance of West Bengal CM Mamata Bannerjee to discuss the fielding of an opposition candidate for the presidential polls.

Incidentally, the opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha who visited Bengaluru last week did not meet Deve Gowda indicating that Sinha would not receive JD(S) backing.

The JD(S) is supporting the NDA candidate even as it attacks the ruling party on several fronts in an attempt to prevent a strengthening of the public perception it is allied with the BJP in the run-up to the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.

“Droupadi Murmu already has sufficient backing and does not need our support but she has nevertheless asked for our support and that is a sign of her goodness,” Kumaraswamy had said last month in the first sign of the JD(S) backing to her.

Kumaraswamy had said that the NDA’s presidential candidate had called Deve Gowda twice to seek the support of the JD(S) in the presidential polls.

The former chief minister also stated that the JD(S) support for Murmu despite the combined opposition fielding former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as its candidate was not a sign of a JD(S) alliance with the BJP. “There is no question of Congress and BJP in this decision. The question of being the B team of any party does not arise in the presidential polls,” Kumaraswamy said, suggesting that the JD(S) is going by credentials in the presidential polls rather than the party association.

The JDS has two members in Parliament—H D Deve Gowda in the Rajya Sabha and his grandson Prajwal Revanna in the Lok Sabha—as well as 30 members in the Karnataka legislative assembly who are eligible to vote on behalf of the party in the presidential polls.