JD(S), BJP birds of one feather, says Congress

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Congress on Saturday repeated its claim of JD(S) being the B-team of the BJP, preying on the fear that the former might split anti-BJP votes and join the saffron party in a post-poll alliance.

Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly Siddaramaiah was at the forefront of making the allegation and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and its Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala echoed these sentiments. The narrative assumes significance as the statements were made during the Congress’ ‘Praja Dhwani Yatre’ (People’s Voice March) in Hassan, one of JD(S)’ strongholds in the Old Mysuru region.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, the party had won six of the seven constituencies in Mandya district while BJP took home the other leaving Congress with nothing. They also conducted a rally in Chikkamagaluru later in the day. Former JD(S) state president Siddaramaiah proved that there was no love lost between him and Kumaraswamy as he equated his old party and BJP.

“JD(S) always hitches its wagon to the winning party. They’ve never come to power independently. Please do not waste your votes. Voting for the JD(S) is like voting for the BJP. Please do not vote for the JD(S). The state will not flourish under the BJP and JD(S),” he said. Siddaramaiah famously led JD(S) to a 58 seat tally in the 2004 Assembly elections.

“JD(S) has presence only in five to six districts. Kumaraswamy is needlessly exhausting himself with the Pancharatna Rath Yatre. Why didn’t Kumaraswamy implement the Pancharatna scheme when he was in power? Now, people must once again bring him to power, he says. Otherwise, he’ll dissolve the party, he says,” the LOP added. Surjewala joined in and made the same claims.

“Don’t let your votes go waste by voting in favour of the JD(S),” he said, pointing out the instances in which the Kumaraswamy-led party had supported the BJP in the past, including the land reforms act.