JD(S) joins NDA, seals alliance with BJP for LS

NT Correspondent

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Four years after its alliance with the Congress-party collapsed in Karnataka bringing down the Kumaraswamy-led government, the Janata Dal (Secular) on Friday joined the BJP led NDA and forged an alliance with the saffron party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to fight the Congress.

The two parties are expected to announce a seat sharing formula after the Dussehra festival next month. The BJP said the alliance will come as a boost to its prospects in the Lok Sabha polls and strengthen the National Democratic Alliance(NDA).

The JD(S) that is headed by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda said it has officially joined the NDA and asserted it has partnered with the saffron party to take on the Congress in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP believes an alliance with the JD(S) will ensure its domination in Karnataka in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as the regional party enjoys considerable influence in the southern parts of the state where the saffron party has traditionally been weak.

BJP leader and former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the new alliance will be a "political game changer" in Karnataka.

The alliance was formalised after JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy's meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda.

"What the Congress had repeatedly said throughout the Karnataka election campaign has been officially vindicated today. The B-team of the BJP in the state— JD(S)—has officially become part of the NDA, that too a day following the most nakedly communal attack by a BJP MP on a former senior JD(S) leader in the Lok Sabha."

—Congress