JD(S) not joining NDA: Karnataka party chief contradicts Deve Gowda, hints at split

Bengaluru: Defying the Janata Dal (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda’s decision of his party’s alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections, the party’s Karnataka unit president C M Ibrahim on Monday said the JD(S) will not join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Hinting at a possible split in the party, the former Union Minister claimed that his faction is the original JD(S) for being ‘secular’ and that being the state president he can take a decision about the outfit in Karnataka.

He appealed to former PM Gowda not to give his consent to the tie-up with the BJP because many people have quit the party in the neighbouring states.

“Our first decision is that the JD(S) will not go with the NDA. The second decision was a request to Deve Gowda that he should not give his consent to this alliance", Ibrahim told reporters after a meeting with some party leaders.

He pointed to JD(S) leaders having quit the party in Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu after the BJP-JD(S) pact.

“In Karnataka, however, we still have affection for you. You are a father figure. We will tell him (Gowda) that we should not have any relation with the BJP,” Ibrahim said. Ibrahim added that he would be forming a core committee, which will meet Deve Gowda and convey the decision taken at today's meeting.

Calling his faction as the ‘original JD(S)’, Ibrahim, who had served as Civil Aviation Minister in the H D Deve Gowda-led government at the Centre, said his faction is ‘secular’.

To a question on his future course of action if Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy did not agree with his decision, Ibrahim said, “I am the state president. I have to decide about my party in the state, which I will take. Already we have decided that we will not go with the BJP. What else is there more than this?”

"If Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy have decided to go with the BJP then let them go", he said. “We are asking them (Gowda and Kumaraswamy) not to go. If they go then we cannot bind them. Regarding (JD-S) MLAs, please wait and see who, how many and where these MLAs will take a decision. We will intimate you when time comes,” the JD(S) state president said.

He claimed that many MLAs are in touch with him but declined to give their names. “It will create pressure If I disclose their (MLA) names. I will also hold one-on-one meetings with the MLAs,” Ibrahim said.

Former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, who is JD(S) second-in-command, on September 22 agreed to be part of the NDA after meeting the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda in New Delhi.