Amid seniors deserting JD(S), party banks on Muslim, BC votes

With several of its senior leaders recently quitting the party and some on the way out just ahead of the 2023 Legislative Assembly polls, regional party JD(S) faces the burden of managing the show largely with either fresh faces or with candidates defeated in previous elections.

Arkalgud MLA A T Ramaswamy and Arasikere MLA Shivalinge Gowda are likely to quit the party soon, joining the likes of Basavaraj Horatti and YSV Datta who jumped ship recently.

Realising that it cannot bank on the charisma of individual candidates in a majority of the constituencies, the party has set out to woo Muslims and backward-class votes. With a stiff contest for Vokkaliga votes - its strongest vote bank - from the BJP and the Congress, the party is also forced to diversify its vote bank.

Speaking to DH, party sources said they were aggressively working at the ground level to garner Muslim votes. “Muslims left us last time as we were called BJP’s B-Team. We are in talks with Muslim religious leaders to sway votes. Many are disillusioned with Congress,” a senior party leader said. The party hopes that the appointment of C M Ibrahim as its state president will also pay dividends. Ibrahim’s son C M Fayaz is its candidate from Humnabad.

Also Read | BJP to woo Cong, JD(S) leaders in Vokkaliga belt: R Ashoka

Besides, the regional party wants to take advantage of the backward class votes. “Siddaramaiah is no longer the undisputed AHINDA leader. We are focusing on SC, ST and OBC votes,” the senior leader added. In its first list of 93 candidates for the 2023 polls, close to 30 candidates are from SC, ST and OBC communities.

The party is on the back foot with JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda being unwell to take part in election campaigning. The dispute between JD(S) Legislature Party leader H D Kumaraswamy and H D Revanna over the Hassan Assembly ticket to the latter’s wife Bhavani, is another challenge staring in the party’s face.

JD(S) MLC Thippeswamy told DH that the party was leaving no stone unturned: “Our manifesto focuses on basic issues which matter to people such as education and health. We have set up a war room and asked candidates to regularly update us with field reports. We have asked candidates to take up padayatra in their constituencies.”

One need not write off JD(S) just because some of its senior leaders left. The party has faced such a situation in most elections and has been able to sustain itself, political analyst A Narayana opined. “H D Kumaraswamy is undoubtedly one of the most prominent faces of Karnataka politics and is among the three mass leaders in Karnataka, along with B S Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah,” he said. As for the party wooing Muslims, the voting pattern is not homogenous and will be candidate-specific, he observed.