The Rajasthan unit of the Janata Dal (Secular) has opposed the party’s decision to join hands with the BJP in Karnataka for the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the ongoing talks for a seat-sharing pact.
The State unit has dissociated itself from the central leadership’s move to enter into the alliance and join the BJP-led NDA.
‘Secularism pledge’
JD(S) State president Arjun Detha said here on Tuesday that the State unit had taken a pledge to follow the path of socialism and secularism. “We are completely opposed to the alliance between the JD(S) and the BJP in view of the latter’s actions during the last nine years, which have paralysed constitutional institutions and brought the nation to the brink of anarchy,” he said.
Mr. Detha reminded JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda that when Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan had decided to become a part of the NDA, the party workers had supported him and gave a new identity to the party with the “secular” tag. All the party leaders and workers in Rajasthan had supported Mr. Gowda in his efforts to save secularism then, he said.
“Coming to power should not be the sole objective, neither is it an ideal way of politics,” Mr. Detha said, adding that the State unit of the party would continue to work for strengthening democracy and oppose the “anti-people” policies of the BJP.
