BJP-JD(S) meet: Old rivals vow to put past behind, plan joint campaigns

Alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) have decided to conduct joint campaigns and form coordination committees with one leader from each party in districts where the regional party has a strong presence, sources said. Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy will likely be part of the upcoming Modi rallies in South Karnataka

Alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) have decided to conduct joint campaigns and form coordination committees with one leader from each party in districts where the regional party has a strong presence, sources said.

The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) will likely be part of the upcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi rallies in South Karnataka, BJP sources said. Apart from this, BJP and JD(S) leaders are likely to campaign together and the schedules are yet to be worked out. 

These decisions were reportedly taken at a BJP-JD(S) coordination meeting held in the city on Friday. The event led by Mr. Yediyurappa and Mr. Gowda turned out to be a platform for the display of a rare bonhomie between those who had been at loggerheads earlier. The top leaders donned shawls of both parties.

Mr. Kumaraswamy recalled that the alliance between the two parties back in 2006 did not last long and ended on a bitter note due to “unavoidable circumstances” and said all that happened in the past were “ordained by fate”. But he wondered if the two parties had formed the government in 2018, instead of the JD(S)-Congress coalition formed then, whether they would have continued to be in power. “This alliance has been crafted with a view of development and security of the nation,” he said. Mr. Gowda said the two parties could win the Lok Sabha election only if they put the past behind them. 

BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra said back in 2006, Mr. Gowda had opposed the alliance between the two parties on ideological grounds, but they had now got a shot in the arm as both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the JD(S) supremo had blessed the alliance this time. “I have travelled in Mysuru and Mandya constituencies with Mr. Kumaraswamy and witnessed the bonhomie and enthusiasm of the workers of the two parties. I am confident that this alliance will deliver a historic verdict in Karnataka,” he said.