The decision of the Janata Dal (Secular) led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has put the party's Kerala unit in a spot of bother. The JD(S) in Kerala is a member of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and has said it won’t join hands with the BJP. JD(S) state president Mathew T Thomas said, “The state unit of the party 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 JD(S) legislator, said the party’s state committee would meet on October 7 to decide on its course of action. “The meeting will decide on the next step, including the chances of forming a state party," he said. The JD(S) in Kerala has two legislators in the Assembly. One of them, K Krishnankutty, is the state electricity minister. Kerala's socialist bloc, the JD(S) and the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), have faced similar crises in the past over their respective national leaders' decisions to join hands with the BJP. The JD(S) in Kerala cannot go along with the decision of its national leadership as it will prompt the CPI(M) to show them the door. Meanwhile, despite being INDIA allies at the national level, there is no love lost between the Congress and the CPI(M) in Kerala. A day after the JD(S) announced its alliance with the NDA, the state Congress said if the CPI(M)'s anti-Sangh Parivar stand was sincere the JD(S) should be thrown out of the LDF coalition. Leader of the Opposition (LoP) V D Satheesan said, "Both CPI(M) and JD(S) have adopted a political double standard. The CPI(M)'s fight against the BJP is insincere. Their loyalty towards the Sangh Parivar is preventing Pinarayi Vijayan from removing the JD(S) nominee from his Cabinet," he said. JD(S) has been a long-term ally of the LDF, despite splits in the party over the years. A faction of the JD(S), under the leadership of its then state president M P Veerendra Kumar, left the LDF in 2009 after being denied the Kozhikode seat to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2009. However, a faction led by Thomas decided to stay back with the LDF. Meanwhile, the faction opposed to the CPI(M) formed a new party, the Socialist Janata Dal, which became an ally of the Congress-led UDF in Kerala in 2010. Later, the SJD merged with the JD(U) under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. But, the Kerala faction of JD(U) again faced a crisis when Nitish ended his alliance with the Congress in Bihar to return to the NDA. JD(U) leaders under MP Veerendra Kumar decided to join Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) in Kerala. In 2018, the LJD walked out of the Congress-led alliance and returned to the LDF. Since then, both the JD(S) and LJD have been part of the LDF. While the state JD(S) is exploring ways to remain with the LDF, the LJD, which has a legislator in the Assembly, has announced its decision to merge with the Rashtriya Janata of Lalu and Tejaswi Yadav next month.
