Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), has refused to join its ally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a padayatra to intensify protests against the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka, indicating early signs of fissures between the coalition partners.
The growing rift, political observers say, is because the JD(S) does not want the alliance to be seen as a merger of the smaller partner and wants to retain its identity and strongholds. Their refusal also shows an unwillingness to overlook earlier rivalries with some BJP leaders.
H.D. Kumaraswamy, a Union minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinet and JD(S) state president, said that people who tried to “destroy and poison” his family were part of the proposed 140 km foot-march scheduled for later this week.
“From Bengaluru to Mysuru…the strength we have…if after all of this we are not taken into confidence in the right manner…why should we lend support? Politics is different…staying together during elections…but what can be achieved with this kind of programme (padayatra)? This has hurt me…,” a visibly agitated Kumaraswamy told reporters in Delhi Wednesday.
Union ministers Pralhad Joshi, BJP state in-charge Radha Mohan Agarwal and BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra met Kumaraswamy Thursday in Delhi, hoping to calm and convince him.
The JD(S) state president’s objections are mainly directed towards Preetham Gowda, the former BJP MLA from Hassan, who allegedly distributed the pen drives containing obscene videos of alleged rape and assault by Kumaraswamy’s nephew and Deve Gowda’s grandson, Prajwal Revanna.
“Who is that Preetham Gowda? A person who was hell bent on destroying (H.D.) Deve Gowda’s family…he is called and I am also invited to such programmes. I also have a limit of tolerance. Who is responsible for distributing pen drives? They call such people and want me to sit beside him. The person who poisoned my family… made him sit beside them and today asked us to support them (for the padayatra),” the Kumaraswamy said.
The JD(S) has also said that it cannot take part in the padayatra since there have been heavy rains and it would be appropriate for its legislators to tend to the distressed population instead.
The party allied with the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the two won 19 of the total 28 seats in Karnataka, restricting Congress to just 9 seats. The JD(S) won two of the three seats it contested in Karnataka and Kumaraswamy made his way into the Modi-cabinet as Union minister for large and medium industries.
Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda met Prime Minister Modi Tuesday and the father-son duo continue to hold all alliance-level talks at the central level and have kept their distance from the state leaders of the BJP, adding to the rift.
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Allegations against Siddaramaiah
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar were summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command Tuesday, which sought a report from the state over the growing allegations of graft against the 76-year-old.
Siddaramaiah has been accused of misusing his powers to gain 14 plots of land from Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and for being party to the diversion of around Rs 90 crore from state-owned Valmiki development board that was meant for welfare of Scheduled Tribes (ST).
But analysts and political leaders say that the JD(S) will be “exposed” if it pursues the matter any further as several of its own legislators, like G.T. Deve Gowda, S.R. Mahesh and even Kumaraswamy himself have availed MUDA plots.
A section of the BJP has accused its own state leaders of intensifying protests “on the orders of D.K. Shivakumar”, and said that the entire episode was part of “adjustment politics” between top leaders of both parties.
Though the BJP has held power in Karnataka for nearly nine years, it has never been able to get a majority on its own. Meanwhile, the JD(S) has allied with both national parties on different occasions.
The BJP needs the JD(S) to penetrate into southern Karnataka where it has little or no presence and the latter needs the Modi-led party to survive the onslaught by the Congress in its strongholds where it has seen its strength decline in recent elections.
“(JD(S)) has to retain its base. How can BJP take over its base? It’s quite natural,” Shivakumar told reporters Thursday.
Kumaraswamy has continued to take all party-related calls and the BJP in Karnataka, led by B.Y. Vijayendra and R. Ashok, have not been able to corner the Congress on its own so far.
“We are protesting against the Congress and for it to succeed, JD(S) and BJP should fight together. I will also speak to Kumaraswamy and our central leaders,” Ashok, the leader of the Opposition, told reporters in Bengaluru Wednesday.
Vokkaliga voter base
Caste assumes great significance in Karnataka, influencing political and social life. The two most dominant caste groups — Lingayats and Vokkaligas — are believed to back the BJP and JD(S), respectively. However, the BJP has tried to make inroads into southern Karnataka where Vokkaligas are found in large numbers.
Muzaffar Assadi, a Mysuru-based political analyst and former faculty at the university of Mysore, says that the JD(S) is wary of the BJP making inroads into its territory.
He said that the Vokkaliagas have in the past voted for the BJP as well in national elections and giving them a platform would result in the landed-agrarian class moving permanently to the Modi-led outfit.
Assadi cites former CM S. Bangarappa as an example, who moved with his core Eediga (Billava) support base from party to party over the years. But once he moved to the BJP, the Eediga-Billava support base formed the core of the pro-Hindu party and remains with them to this day.
According to analysts, the JD(S) fears the same fate.
After the JD(S) was reduced to just 19 of the 224 seats in the state elections in 2023, Kumaraswamy has remained cautious not to cede more ground to the BJP.
This was one of the reasons why Deve Gowda got his son-in-law, Dr C.N. Manjunath, to contest on a BJP ticket from Bengaluru Rural to ensure that JD(S) supporters continue to remain with the regional outfit and don’t see it as a merged entity.
Kumaraswamy retained Vokkaliga heartland of Mandya and Prajwal lost from Hassan. With Kumaraswamy vacating his Channapatna assembly seat, the BJP is hoping to use this to gain more ground in the Old Mysuru belt.
“There is an inherent fear that BJP will eat out their bases. The second is that it (BJP) is like a hebbavu (serpent) and once you allow it to get into this place (strongholds), it will completely marginalise the regional party,” Assadi says.
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