High command has 'dictatorial attitude' so kept us out: DVS on BJP-JD(S) tie-up

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: BJP MP from Bengaluru North and former chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda has thrown a spanner in the works as far as the BJP’s pre-poll alliance with the JD(S) for the Lok Sabha elections is concerned.

He claimed that state leaders from the saffron party weren’t consulted before the tie-up was forged, adding that the “dictatorial attitude” of the central leadership is the cause of dissatisfaction in the party.

He made similar comments on multiple occasions in exclusive interviews with The Indian Express, Asianet news channel as well when the media was present.

“Central leaders did not discuss this with us. We were kept out of this decision,” Gowda said, adding that the same might have been done because it was a matter of “national interest.”

He even went one step further and claimed that the Congress was ahead in about 10 to 15 Lok Sabha seats as of now. These remarks come in the backdrop of former BJP MLA Ramanna S Lamani joining the Congress on Thursday.

BJP MLA from Yesvantpur ST Somasekhar had openly opposed the alliance with the JD(S) as well, citing the fact that he had fought against JD(S) in six Assembly elections.

Somasekhar and other BJP MLAs who had come from the Congress in July 2019 under the infamous Operation Kamala – a euphemism for the saffron party poaching MLAs – are rumoured to be mooting returning to the Grand Old Party.

This has lent credence to Deputy CM DK Shivakumar’s claim that many leaders in both BJP and JD(S) are unhappy with the alliance. Gowda has also expressed disappointment with the party central leadership not appointing the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly and the Council.