Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka appears to be on the verge of an implosion over party patriarch HD Deve Gowda’s decision to ally with the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, with state party chief and former Union minister CM Ibrahim raising the possibility of a mutiny.
“JD(S) MLAs do not want to align with the BJP,” Ibrahim told ThePrint in an exclusive interaction Tuesday. “Either they want to remain independent or they want to go with INDIA (the alliance of opposition parties led by the Congress). That has been the opinion.”
He added: “If there is no secular stand, then Muslims will not stay. Not just minorities, even Vokkaligas won’t stay with the party.”
According to Ibrahim, Kumaraswamy made the decision to ally with the BJP, Gowda acquiesced under “pressure”, and other key party leaders were left out of the equation.
The JD(S), a regional party that has allied with both the BJP and the Congress in the past, has been facing an existential crisis. In the 2023 assembly elections, the party’s seats plummeted to 19 out of 224, and its vote share dipped from 18 percent in 2018 to around 13 percent.
But dipping electoral fortunes is not its only problem. The JD(S) is a family-run party, with eight members of Gowda’s immediate family in active politics. Cracks within the family have begun to seep into other aspects of the party, political observers say. The alliance with the BJP now threatens its very survival.
‘Deve Gowda under pressure’
On September 22, BJP national president JP Nadda posted a picture on X announcing that the JD(S) had formally joined the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). With Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, stood Kumaraswamy and his son, actor-politician Nikhil Gowda, among other leaders.
However, conspicuous in their absence were JD(S) national president Deve Gowda and state chief Ibrahim.
Swiftly after the alliance was announced, dissent rippled through the ranks of both the JD(S) and the BJP.
According to Ibrahim, the JD(S)’s own rulebook mandates that alliance decisions should be taken by the party, not just the legislative wing, but that this did not happen.
“Even (Kumaraswamy’s MLA brother) HD Revanna and Prajwal (Revanna), the only JD(S) MP, were not involved. Nikhil has gone (to Delhi) but under what capacity?” Ibrahim asked.
In 2006, Kumaraswamy broke off an alliance with the Congress and joined hands with the BJP for the first time in the state. Party insiders claim that Deve Gowda did not approve of the alliance back then, but has given it his blessing this time around. This, they add, has given room to the Congress and others to question the former PM’s “secular” credentials for allying with a party that is termed as “communal”.
Ibrahim, however, told ThePrint that he believes Gowda, who is 89 and suffers from health issues, was not a true participant in the decision.
“Deve Gowda is under pressure. He can’t make his own decisions. Earlier, he was independent but now he is dependent. Kumaraswamy is taking all decisions,” he claimed.
A rift within the JD(S) was seen even during the run-up to the 2023 assembly elections as Kumaraswamy and his brother HD Revanna squared off for supremacy within the party.
MLA Revanna’s son Prajwal represents Hassan in Parliament, while another son, Suraj, holds an MLC post. His wife, Bhavani, former Zilla Panchayat president, sought the Hassan city ticket but did not get it.
Kumaraswamy is a two-time CM and his wife is a former MLA. His son, Nikhil, has unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 2023 assembly polls.
Several senior JD(S) leaders have lost the battle while trying to raise their voice or concerns against Kumaraswamy or the Gowda household, claim party sources.
But now, Ibrahim is drawing a line in the sand.
‘Rebuild a secular party’
A seasoned leader, Ibrahim has had stints in the Janata Party, Congress before his current spell in the JD(S). The former state and Union minister commands a sizable following among Muslims and is reputed to have a deep understanding of the Lingayat sect, often quoting sacred texts and the teachings of its founder Basavanna.
He claimed that he has started talking to all 19 MLAs of the JD(S) and is confident that the alliance with the BJP will not go through.
If it does, he said, the JD(S) will further lose grip in its traditional strongholds, including in the districts of Old Mysuru, and Muslim voters will withdraw their support.
There are precedents for certain alliances being disastrous for the party. The JD(S) was reduced to just one Lok Sabha seat in 2019 after its pre-poll alliance with the Congress went horribly wrong, leading to an exodus of leaders from both parties and the collapse of the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in 2019.
The JD(S) is an offshoot of the erstwhile undivided Janata Dal, and Ibrahim says he is driving efforts to revive its “secular” ideology.
“The original Janata Party ideology has suffered a lot. What does secular mean? The Indian constitution was drafted by Dr BR Ambedkar. The BJP has removed socialism and secularism. Does JD(S) accept this? If you have an alliance, it means that we have accepted this,” he said.
With barely a year to go before the 2024 assembly elections, Ibrahim said he believes he can squeeze out a good deal with the INDIA alliance.
He insists that the Congress is only a part of this alliance as most of the decisions are being taken by Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar.
“Going with INDIA does not mean allying with Congress. There is Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, (MK) Stalin…. Congress is only a part of it,” he said.
Ibrahim said he has also initiated conversations with the Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and other branches of the erstwhile Janata Parivaar to unify their efforts.
He claimed that the Kerala and Maharashtra units of the JD(S) are against the alliance with the BJP as well.
“We will soon have a meeting either in Ahmedabad or Bengaluru to bring back the old Janata Party together— those who are against allying with the BJP,” he said.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
Also Read: Why Deve Gowda’s son Revanna thinks Muslims won’t desert JD(S) after alliance with BJP