After pact, rebellion: JD(S)-BJP alliance off to a rough start, dissent rears its head in Karnataka too

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 from the Hagaribommanahalli 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.

Basavaraj said though he was not involved in the decision and “heard about the alliance from the newspapers”, JD(S) candidates could be fielded from four or five constituencies, of which three are expected to be Hassan, Bengaluru Rural, and Kolar.

According to sources, the BJP high command is expected to iron out any differences over the alliance in the coming days. The Deve Gowda family, meanwhile, has been entrusted with soothing the nerves of unhappy party leaders.

The alliance, announced last Friday, hinges on Deve Gowda’s cordial relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite this, Deve Gowda was reportedly reluctant to enter an alliance that would be seen as a step away from the secular ideology he has been wedded to his entire political life.

His son and former CM H D Kumaraswamy, however, has never shied away from the BJP. The JD(S) alliance with the BJP in 2006 was also seen to have been formed at Kumaraswamy’s behest and against Deve Gowda’s wishes. But with Deve Gowda now 90 years old, the JD(S) perhaps saw a shrinking window to seal an alliance with the BJP and ensure its longevity after successive poll setbacks since 2018.

Though the JD(S) has been a partner of both the Congress and the BJP in the past, it has turned to the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls with the state Congress not keen on having it in the INDIA coalition on account of their conflicting electoral interests in south Karnataka.

For the JD(S), which is struggling to stay afloat, the alliance offers a lifeline as it does not have the wherewithal to take on the financial power of the ruling Congress in Karnataka and the central BJP at the same time. For both the JD(S) and BJP, the alliance seems to be good realpolitik as it marks their acceptance of the reality of their fractured support bases in Karnataka in the aftermath of the Assembly polls earlier this year that the Congress won comprehensively.