After months of intense speculation, BJP Parliamentary Board member B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday confirmed that his party would forge a pre-poll alliance with the Janata Dal (S) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“BJP and JD (S) are about to forge an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has agreed to give four seats to the JD(S),” Mr. Yediyurappa told presspersons here, without spelling out the names of the constituencies. He said that the party expected the alliance to win 25 or 26 Lok Sabha seats of the total 28 in Karnataka.
BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel expressed confidence that the alliance would boost the party’s poll prospects. Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai too said that such an alliance was “necessary now”. Both the parties had worked in co-ordination during the recent legislature session.
No word from JD(S)
However, the JD(S) is yet to make any statement on the proposed alliance. State BJP leaders too are not in the know of the specifics of the discussion between party leaders, as they are happening at the level of the BJP high command.
JD(S) sources said that the granular discussion on seat sharing had not taken place yet, though leaders had come to a broad understanding. It was likely that the party could seek the opinion of leaders and workers, who are gathering at Palace Grounds here on Sunday, on the alliance.
Political circles in Karnataka had been abuzz with speculations that JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda met Mr. Shah in Delhi recently. It was also being said that former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had been approached in this regard by the BJP soon after the Assembly elections in May 2023.
No clarity on seat sharing
There is no clarity on the constituencies that are being offered to the JD(S).
BJP sources believe that the JD(S) may be offered Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Chickballapur, and Hassan seats. A BJP State functionary said the party was unlikely to give Mandya to JD (S). Mandya is represented by Sumalatha who won the seat in 2019 as an Independent, but extended support to the BJP before the May 2023 Assembly elections.
A JD(S) source said: “Mandya, Hassan, Tumakuru, Chickballapur, Bengaluru Rural, and Kolar constituencies are on the party’s wish list.”
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah sought to downplay the proposed alliance between the Opposition parties.
“We are not bothered about who will enter into an alliance and who will fight on their own. We will seek votes from people. People are in our favour, and they will vote for us,” he said.
