Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), hit out at the Congress leadership for suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “humiliated” former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda by denying the nonagenarian a nomination to the Rajya Sabha.
The JD(S) recalled several instances to attack Congress national general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, making the point that the Congress had betrayed Deve Gowda on many occasions, including in 1997, 2019 and other instances.
“Congress has a mask of secularism inside and politics of caste hatred outside! Everyone knows how your ‘fake Gandhis’ insulted and treated Former Prime Minister’s Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh,” the JD(S) said in a lengthy post Monday originally in Kannada from its official X handle.
The JD(S), however, did not mention the BJP not nominating the former PM to the Rajya Sabha, exposing the possible fault lines in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
ಭೂತದ ಬಾಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಗವದ್ಗೀತೆ!
ಮಿಸ್ಟರ್ ವಸೂಲಿವಾಲಾ @rssurjewala, ಜೆಡಿಎಸ್ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾತನಾಡುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ನ ಕರಾಳ ಇತಿಹಾಸವನ್ನು ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನೆನಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಿ:
👉🏿 1997ರಲ್ಲಿ ಕುತಂತ್ರದಿಂದ ಶ್ರೀ @H_D_Devegowda ಅವರನ್ನು ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ಸ್ಥಾನದಿಂದ ಕೆಳಗಿಳಿಸಿದ ದ್ರೋಹಿಗಳು ನೀವು! @INCIndia ಪಕ್ಷ ಮಾಡಿದ ಈ ಮಹಾದ್ರೋಹವನ್ನು ಕಳೆದ… https://t.co/K6GAwOWNt2
— Janata Dal Secular (@JanataDal_S) June 8, 2026
In a decision taken early Monday, the BJP nominated Prof. (Dr.) M. Nagaraja, a member of the Kuruba community, as its choice on the last day of nomination filing.
There are four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka of which the Congress nominated its party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, party spokesperson Pawan Khera and Mansoor Ali Khan. The BJP-JD(S) alliance was expected to nominate either Gowda or former Mandya Lok Sabha member of Parliament, Sumalatha Ambareesh.
“Till late last night, we were expecting that our leader’s (Deve Gowda) name would be announced. We had no idea that he would not be nominated,” said a JD(S) legislator.
While Deve Gowda had not publicly requested a re-nomination, there was an outpouring of anger and surprise at its allies’ decision, as there were strong expectations that the former PM would be renominated.
The denial of a nomination effectively draws a curtain on Deve Gowda’s nearly six decades in active public life, casting a cloud of uncertainty around the nearly three-year-old BJP-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka.
With Chief Minister D.K.Shivakumar rolling out the red carpet for JD(S) workers to join the Congress, Deve Gowda being kept out of Rajya Sabha and H.D.Kumaraswamy rooted in his role as a Union Minister in New Delhi, the latest development can potentially add to the growing challenges for the regional party.
Also Read: From Sathanur to Bidadi, how Shivakumar-Deve Gowda rivalry has shaped Karnataka politics in 40 years
Six decades of public life
On Monday, Surjewala mocked the two parties, saying that the BJP overlooked a former PM for its state vice-president in charge of District Building Construction.
“The constant humiliation heaped upon JD(S) by BJP and its leadership and its repeated acceptance by Sh. H.D.Kumaraswamy merely sticking to ministerial chair at any cost is highly astonishing and eye-opening. Further, accepting this insult is an absolute extreme,” Surjewala said in his lengthy post.
Karnataka Congress president B.K.Hariprasad said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ‘used and misused’ Deve Gowda to in Parliament for smooth passage of bills
“By denying a Rajya Sabha seat to Mr. Deve Gowda, they have insulted (the) entire Karnataka, and people will give them a befitting reply,” he told reporters, adding that “power at any cost, power at all costs” was the motto of the regional party.
The Congress had backed Deve Gowda’s bid to enter the Rajya Sabha in 2020 after he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Tumakuru.
Deve Gowda joined the Congress in 1953 and remained there until 1962. He first became the president of the Anjaneya Cooperative Society of Holenarasipura and later became a member of the Taluk Development Board of Holenarasipura, his hometown and the constituency which his older son, H.D.Revanna, now represents in the Karnataka Assembly.
The veteran was elected from Holenarsipura for six consecutive terms between 1962 and 1989. He joined the Congress (O) during the Congress split and served as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly from March 1972 to March 1976 and again from November 1976 to December 1977. During the Emergency (1975-77), he was imprisoned in the Bangalore Central Jail.
Later, he joined the Janata Party and won from Holenarsipura in 1978, 1983 and 1985. He served as a minister in the Ramakrishna Hegde-led Karnataka government from 1983 to 1988. When V.P. Singh joined Janata Dal and Subramanian Swamy formed the Janata Party (Jaya Prakash) faction, Deve Gowda became Janata Party (JP)’s Karnataka president. But he lost from Holenarasipur in 1989, and later rejoined Janata Dal. He became state president of Janata Dal in 1994 and in December that year, became the 14th chief minister of Karnataka.
Barely two years later in June 1996, Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in September that year. He served as PM for just over 10 months before his government fell. He then entered the Lok Sabha in 1998, 2002, 2004, 2008, and 2014. Deve Gowda lost the 2019 elections after giving his home seat of Hassan to his grandson, Prajwal Revanna, and then unsuccessfully contesting from neighbouring Hassan district. In June 2020, he entered the Rajya Sabha.
‘No state-level discussion’
At least three senior BJP leaders told ThePrint that there was no proposal to nominate Deve Gowda to the Rajya Sabha. “There were no state-level discussions on sending Deve Gowda to the Rajya Sabha. That’s all I can say,” BJP state president B.Y.Vijayendra told reporters.
A BJP national leader said that there was no proposal or discussion on sending Deve Gowda to the Rajya Sabha since the latter was from an alliance party. “Nagaraj is a grassroot-level long-time worker of the party,” the leader added.
Nagaraj is from the Kuruba community, largely focusing on party-related work in the northern districts of Karnataka. With Siddaramaiah stepping down as CM and the BJP expelling K.S.Eshwarappa ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the opposition party has been trying to expand its outreach to the Kurubas.
The community-specific outreach is similar to its reasons for allying with the JD(S), which commands significant influence over the dominant Vokkaliga community.
Though the BJP has formed the government twice in Karnataka, it has never been able to secure a majority largely due to its minimal presence in the Old Mysuru belt from where the JD(S) draws most of its strength.
Post its dismal outing in 2023, the JD(S) and the BJP allied with Kumaraswamy being inducted in the Modi cabinet despite just winning two Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
Since then, the JD(S) has backed the BJP’s contentious policies, including the bill on delimitation that could potentially reduce the state’s representation in proportion to its northern counterparts.
On Monday, Kumaraswamy re-posted at least two of Modi’s tweets but is yet to react to the Rajya Sabha nomination. The Union minister was in Kyrgyz Republic on official work to participate in the 4th Meeting of Ministers of Industry of the SCO Member States.
Though there is no official word from Kumaraswamy on the controversy, some within his party are hopeful that the BJP will provide consolation by backing the JD(S) candidate in the upcoming Karnataka Legislative Council elections.
Of the seven seats up for grabs in the Legislative Council, the Congress has fielded five candidates though it has sufficient votes for just four, with some remaining votes. The BJP, too, has numbers just to elect two candidates and will have some votes remaining.
JD(S) legislator Suresh Babu said that he would request Chief Minister Shivakumar to remove one candidate and support the regional outfit in the upcoming MLC elections. That the JD(S) is approaching the Congress and not the BJP indicates that things may not be well in the alliance.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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