After JDS-BJP pact, dissent rears its head in Karnataka, Kerala

A section of JD(S) leaders in Karnataka from the minority community attended a meeting in Bengaluru on Sunday chaired by party working president and former minister M N Nabi. “We have held a meeting to express our unhappiness over the alliance. We are hurt by the decision,” Nabi said.

Among those who have already resigned is Shafiullah Baig, who was the vice president of the JD(S). “Not only minority leaders, but all leaders who follow secular principles are unhappy about the decision. The BJP is not a secular party due to which many leaders are in a fix,” he told The Indian Express.

The JD(S)’s Shivamogga district president M Srikant also resigned on Saturday. MLAs Sharangouda Kandakur from Gurmitkal and Nemiraj Naik have also aired their dissatisfaction over the alliance.

Sources said efforts by JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda to convince party leaders and workers about the decision had not had the desired effect.

Among the BJP leaders not too keen on the alliance is Tumkur MP G S Basavaraj, who has publicly opposed the possibility of Deve Gowda contesting from his seat and said he was faced with a “dilemma”.

“I won the election against Deve Gowda last time … If he is fielded from here (again), I don’t know what will be the outcome,” Basavaraj told reporters on Sunday, adding that the Hemavathy issue could hurt the alliance. The BJP defeated Deve Gowda in the last Lok Sabha election by highlighting his opposition to the supply of water from the Hemavathy reservoir to parts of Tumkur.

According to sources, the BJP high command is expected to iron out any differences over the alliance in the coming days.

In Kerala, JD(S) state unit president Mathew T Thomas said, “The state unit won’t join the NDA. We don’t know why the national leadership decided to join hands with the BJP. The party’s professed stand was to fight both the BJP and the Congress. The party fought the Assembly elections in Karnataka accordingly. Afterwards, the national executive of the party did not adopt a different approach. We are not party to the latest decision to join the NDA.”

Thomas, also a legislator, said the party’s state committee would meet on October 7. “The meeting will decide on the next step, including the chances of forming a state party,” he said.