Bengaluru: With a two-day convention of 24 opposition parties in Congress-ruled Karnataka underway, the party said there is no need to extend an invitation to anyone who wants to join ‘secular forces’. A reference to his former ally Janata Dal (Secular).
The alliance of 24 opposition parties that has decided to take on the BJP in next year’s general elections is yet to extend an invitation to the JD(S) to be a part of the meeting.
This has fueled speculation about the possibility of the JD(S) moving closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is set to hold its own. meeting of allies in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Congress National General Secretary (Organization) K.C. Venugopal said at a press conference in Bengaluru.
Later in the day, JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy told reporters that the opposition parties did not take into account the party led by him. “The organizers of today’s big opposition meeting are under the illusion that the JD(S) is over… So I have no doubt whether we got the invitation or not.”
Interestingly, a JD(S) source said the two-day convention of the opposition parties is being held at the Taj West End, a five-star hotel in central Bengaluru where Kumaraswamy is believed to have a permanent room.
The Congress and the JD(S) came together to keep the BJP out of power after a fractured mandate in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections. Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) was appointed Chief Minister. He was sworn in in May 2018 and was attended by a minimum of politicians 15 political partiesThis was seen as a major show of strength by the opposition.
However, the Congress-JD(S) alliance could not last for more than fourteen months.
With the Congress now back in power in Karnataka with its majority, the party is hosting a two-day convention of the opposition in Bengaluru, which will be attended by leaders of 15 opposition parties, for talks to begin on June 23 this year. met in patna To discuss the formation of a common front to challenge the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The constituents of this alliance include Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Janata Dal (United). Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC), J&K Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Left and Samajwadi Party (SP) among others.
On Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will host a dinner for ‘coalition’ partners at the Taj West End in Bengaluru, which will include West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, along with Lalu Prasad Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray and Akhilesh Yadav.
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‘There is still time’: Kumaraswamy
Congress and JD(S) have had a volatile relationship. Their long-standing rivalry escalated after they were reduced to one seat each in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP, which was in power in the state at that time, was successful in winning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
In the assembly elections held earlier this year, the JD(S) was reduced to 19 seats, while the Congress got 135 and the BJP 66 in the 224-member assembly. Analysts say that the Congress has made a dent in JD’s vote share. (S) In the old Mysuru region of southern Karnataka.
Since the JD(S) has aligned with both the BJP and the Congress in the past to ‘protect’ its interests, the possibility of it forging an alliance with the BJP-led NDA before the general elections next year is out of the question .
“There is still time. Not that I have received an invitation from anyone,” Kumaraswamy said on Monday in response to a question whether his party would join the NDA. “There are workers for my party, people took some decisions Which keeps changing in every election…Our party has been fighting since the beginning. All discussions are premature because there are eight to nine months to the (2024) elections. We still have to see,” he said.
The JD(S) also finds the road ahead tough as Kumaraswamy and his brother HD Revanna are fighting for dominance, leaving their father – former prime minister HD Deve Gowda (90) – little control over the party, who Kingmaker in the past’.
Even for the BJP, differences within its state unit seem to have widened since the assembly elections. For the first time in recent memory, the legislature is without a Leader of the Opposition (LoP) due to differences within the BJP’s state leadership.
(Editing by Amritansh Arora)
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