As the Congress and the BJP are making a bid to poach JD(S) leaders, the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has lashed out at both the national parties saying that his party is not dependent on other parties to grab power, while both the national parties were knocking the doors of the JD(S) to secure power in the Kalaburagi City Corporation council.
The Congress which had called the JD(S) the ‘B’ team of the the BJP sought support of the party and formed the coalition government soon after the 2018 polls, he said, and added, “Our party is ‘B’ team of neither the Congress nor the BJP. We are not bothered about who quits the party.”
JD(S) MLC Sandesh Nagaraj and MLAs G.T. Deve Gowda and K. Srinivas Gowda have decided to quit the party. A few months ago, former JD(S) legislators MLAs Madhu Bangarappa, M.S. Akki, and Ramesh Babu joined the Congress.
The JD(S) leader recalled events that occurred after the fractured mandate in the Assembly elections in 2004 and 2018 when both Congress and BJP leaders came to the doorsteps of the JD(S) to form the government. Now, with the JD(S) having won four seats in the Kalaburagi City Corporation council, both the national parties were seeking the party’s support, Mr. Kumarswamy said.
With regard to attrition from its party fold, Mr. Kumaraswamy told reporters that the JD(S) had no shortage of leaders and the party had grown with the blessings of lakhs of workers and not leaders. Leaders such as Siddaramaiah, K.R. Ramesh Kumar, R.V. Deshpande, B.L. Shankar, and many others now in the Congress had grown in the JD(S), he said.
Talking about decision to name Muslim candidates in the byelections to Hangal and Sindgi Assembly seats, the former Chief Minister said the party need not ask permission of national parties to field candidates.
