The Janata Dal (Secular)’s meeting held this week in Bengaluru, which was chaired by party chief and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, has firmed up the party’s strategies in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. These include not pressing for the name of former CM and Deve Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Assembly; the JD(S) cooperating with the BJP to fight the Congress in the Legislature, but fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls independently; and that even for the JD(S) an alliance would depend on a given situation. The meeting was held in the absence of Kumaraswamy, who has allegedly been leaning towards the BJP in recent days. It outlined concerns among a section of the JD(S) regarding a perceived rightwards tilt in the party since its setback in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls. At the meeting, Deve Gowda reiterated the JD(S)'s determination to preserve its independent identity in state and national politics. He even suggested that the BJP is in the process of appointing a new floor leader in the state Assembly, and a new state unit president, which he said would put to end speculation of Kumaraswamy becoming the LoP with the BJP’s support. "There have been reports based on rumours of Kumaraswamy being made the Leader of Opposition. Now, they are choosing their own LoP. Stories based on rumours have been published. When they are going to select their own party president and Leader of Opposition, the matter ends," said Deve Gowda on Tuesday. "The BJP has already held one round of discussions about the selection of a floor leader and a new party president. They are considering Chikamagalur Ravi (C T Ravi) as the president and [Basangouda Patil] Yatnal as the floor leader (LoP). However, we are not paying attention to what is happening in their party,” the JD(S) chief said, adding that his party would work with the BJP to take on the Congress in the state Legislature. Deve Gowda also said that the JD(S) was joining hands with the BJP in the Legislature to put up a united front with their 85 MLAs — including the BJP’s 66 and the JD(S)’s 19 — against the Congress, which has 135 MLAs. "The official Opposition party in Karnataka is the BJP, but the unofficial party is the JD(S). Kumaraswamy will seek an adjournment motion on an issue and the BJP will also seek adjournment on the same. How does the Speaker decide the privileges? He will give first priority to the recognised Opposition, and then come to the JD(S), the unrecognised Opposition. They will stage a walkout after discussions and then we will discuss the same issue, and we will also stage a walkout. To avoid such situations, we have decided upon floor coordination. As the opposition, we have done this in the past with both the Congress and the BJP,” he said. State JD(S) president C M Ibrahim said, "Two major subjects were discussed in our meeting — one is for creating a committee (to revive the party) under the leadership of G T Deve Gowda; the other is to fight the next Lok Sabha polls independently, but to leave the decision on providing support to the Opposition (BJP) in the Assembly to the leader of the JD(S) Legislature Party (Kumaraswamy) on bills and issues according to the subjects.” The strategy meeting was held amid concerns among some leaders like G T Deve Gowda and C M Ibrahim that the JD(S) was loosening its ties with its minority supporters with its tilt toward the BJP in the state Legislature, under the leadership of Kumaraswamy. "Some JD(S) leaders who have a large number of Muslim constituents are worried about the impact of the JD(S) working with the BJP. The party is also now mostly under control of Kumaraswamy and not Deve Gowda. The strategic meeting was held while Kumaraswamy was abroad, for Deve Gowda to address the concerns in the party,” said sources linked to the JD(S). “He (Deve Gowda) said that we only have one aim — to rebuild the party we have created. We have to prepare the cadre. We have the faith that people will not desert us — that women, workers and farmers will be with us because we have supported them. We have not built the party on caste lines, but as a forum for all,” said JD(S) MLA G T Deve Gowda. At the meeting, the party patriarch attacked the Congress for becoming “secular as per convenience” but accusing the JD(S) over the issue. He also said the JD(S) should not be written off as a party just because it had won 19 seats in the 2023 Karnataka polls. "The Congress is secular on a selective basis, and when they feel it, they say we are not secular. They talk about secularism according to their convenience. When the Janata Party formed the government (in Karnataka) in 1983, it was a Congress-free government with the BJP, Communists and Independents. It had Ramakrishna Hegde as the CM. We were associated with the BJP at the time and Siddaramaiah held a post in the government. In politics, associations are forged according to the situation,” said Deve Gowda. Despite associating with the BJP to fight the Congress in the Legislature, the JD(S) will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls independently, he also said. "We will fight independently. When we had three seats, Manmohan Singh (ex-PM) approached us and said he needed our support and we extended support. In the interest of a stable government in the country, we will decide according to the situation that emerges at a particular moment in history. The party will decide," he said. He also charged that he did not participate in the two joint meetings of the Opposition parties — which has now come together under the INDIA umbrella — because a section of the state Congress did not want him to attend it. "It is not a question of changes in politics at the national level. There was a meeting held and a section of local Congress leaders said Deve Gowda would not attend. As a result, they did not call me. Nitish Kumar is my friend and he said I should be called, but the local Congress leaders said I would not attend even if I were called," Deve Gowda said. "Sharad Pawar came to the meeting. But what has happened in reality — they are going to support the NDA. There is a lot that happens in politics, everyday. This has happened after the meeting in Bengaluru. The changes that will happen according to the situations can't be predicted by anyone,” the former PM said.
