After LS high, BJP, JD(S) alliance hits choppy waters: Yatras to Muslim quota to joint panels

Separately, the JD(S) announced that it would hold a protest in Bengaluru against the Congress government over price hike on April 12.

These developments are a far cry from the bonhomie displayed by two parties when they marched together during the “Mysuru Chalo Padayatra”, which was taken out by them from Bengaluru in August last year to demand the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over alleged corruption in the allotment of 14 housing sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Eight months down the line, there appears to be barely any coordination between the BJP and the JD(S) in taking on the Siddaramaiah government. This was also seen last Tuesday when the BJP’s yatra reached Mandya. Union Minister and state JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy was then in Mandya to attend various events, but he did not join his ally’s yatra.

That the alliance has been on a shaky ground was indicated by JD(S) Legislature Party leader Suresh Babu, who said last week that his party was not invited by the BJP for its April 2-3 protest against inflation or its Jan Aakrosh Yatra. “We think that BJP feels it is a national party and their leaders are not too keen on consulting us while holding their programmes. During the (Mysuru Chalo) padayatra too, they wanted to go alone. But, BJP central leaders convinced Kumaraswamy to go along,” he said.

Babu said the JD(S) had worked along with the BJP in countering the Congress in both the Houses of the state Legislature. “They (BJP) have not invited us (for the yatra) and it is wrong,” he said, demanding the constitution of the coordination committees of the two allies at the state, district and taluk levels.

State BJP president B Y Vijayendra said the JD(S) not being part of his party’s yatra “did not mean there was a confusion between the alliance partners”, adding that “If there are any differences, we will sit together and sort it out.”

Vijayendra pointed to a separate campaign undertaken by the JD(S) against the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill seeking to split the Bengaluru civic body into smaller corporations, which was passed by the Legislature in March. He also asserted that as a party the BJP has to respond quickly to burning issues like inflation.

Kumaraswamy also downplayed the NDA partners going their separate ways to attack the Congress dispensation. “There is no question of two parties maintaining distance,” he said Monday, maintaining that the BJP has brought out yatra to enthuse its cadre. “We will also hold our programmes. However, there is no problem for the alliance,” he said, while acknowledging the need for an NDA coordination committee.

BJP sources said the fissures between the two allies were bound to surface. While the BJP central leadership pushed for their tie-up ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the state BJP leaders were not too keen on it. In the polls, out of 28 seats, the BJP bagged 17 while the JD(S) won 2, with their alliance managing to restrict the Congress to just 9 seats.

Later, however, “the state BJP got upset when the MUDA padayatra turned into a battle between Kumaraswamy and Congress leader and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar”, said a BJP leader. “Some senior state BJP leaders felt that Kumaraswamy hijacked this campaign which was entirely organised by the BJP,” he said. Days before his MUDA march, Kumaraswamy had threatened to boycott it for being “ignored” by the BJP before he was mollified by the latter.

Another issue that recently brought the differences between the BJP and the JD(S) to the fore was the Congress government’s decision to extend 4% reservation to Muslims under the backward Category 2B in government contracts below Rs 2 crore and for procurement of goods and services below Rs 1 crore under various government departments, which had already been available to the SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The government succeeded in passing an amendment to the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act in this regard by voice vote in both the Houses despite the NDA’s majority numbers in the Legislative Council.

While the BJP has slammed the government for allegedly violating the Constitution by granting the “religion-based” quota, the JD(S) has not opposed it. Kumaraswamy issued a statement, saying that instead of being based on religion, reservation should “stand on the foundation of social justice and must continue that way”, which was in tune with the Congress’s stand that the reservation has been granted to Muslims based on their backwardness.

Kumaraswamy accused the Siddaramaiah government of allegedly “destroying” the concept of social justice for vote-bank politics. “It is using reservation as a tool for appeasement and misleading the people of the state,” he said.

His father and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, the former Prime Minister, has always maintained that it was under his tenure as the Karnataka CM in 1995 that quota was provided to Muslims under 2B category.

The JD(S) is also learnt to be unhappy about the lack of the BJP’s support when the state revenue department conducted a drive in Ramnagar district in March to clear a land allegedly encroached by Kumaraswamy.

The regional party is also wary about Vijayendra’s reported plan to shift his Assembly constituency from Shikaripura, which he currently represents, to one of the segments in Mysuru district. The JD(S) feels that such a move would encroach on its stronghold in the Vokkaliga-dominated Mysuru region in South Karnataka.

However, NDA sources maintained that the JD(S) would not break up with the BJP. Several JD(S) legislators and leaders have been in touch with the Congress, sources said, holding that ending the alliance would hurt the former severely. So the JD(S) is likely to be part of the NDA until at least the 2028 state Assembly elections, sources added.