The Janata Dal (Secular) on Wednesday ended speculation on its stand on the presidential election as it declared it would support neither the UPA nor the NDA. In effect, the party MLAs and MPs would abstain from polling on Thursday.

On a day when Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior BJP leaders such as former prime minister A B Vajpayee telephoned JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda seeking support to their respective candidates, the latter remained unmoved. He told them that the party would maintain equidistance  from the two groups.

The former prime minister convened a meeting of the national executive of his party and got a resolution passed to this effect.

In a signed statement to the press, Gowda said “the national executive of the JD(S) has time and again committed itself to maintaining an equidistance with both the Congress and the BJP at the national level.
However, due to unavoidable circumstances, and with a view not to burden the people of Karnataka with frequent elections, the party had entered into alliance with both the parties from time to time, which were purely a local arrangement”.

He added: “At the Centre, the JD(S) has consistently maintained equidistance with both the Congress and the BJP and preserved its distinct identity.

In Karnataka too, the present state level arrangement with the BJP is based on the Karnataka Development Front agenda , which is committed to both secularism and socialism.”

Equal distance
“On the presidential election too, after hectic and wide-ranging consultations among the national and state leadership, the party has decided to strictly adhere to its consistent stand of maintaining equ-distance with both UPA and NDA.

The party will not issue any whip to its MPs and MLAs.

The JD(S) MPs and MLAs have resolved to strictly adhere to the party’s consistent stand of maintaining equidistance with both the UPA and NDA in the presidential election on Thursday”.