‘Parivar’ politics has ruined JDS base in state

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT Bengaluru

The result of Rajya Sabha has come as a wake-up call for Janata Dal (Secular) which has set an ambitious target of 123 seats in the 2023 Assembly elections. If leaders of this regional party fail to pull up their socks in the next 12 months the party will be totally decimated.

Already, a couple of MLAs’ have set their foot outside the party and are waiting for the announcement of the poll date to join either BJP or Congress. Even former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy was aware of the fact of the total 32 JDS MLAs in the current house of 224 members, around 70 per cent of them would not remain in the party by next year.

Many of them voted for the JDS candidate in RS polls, Kupendra Reddy as the last ‘thanks giving’ to the party that helped them to enjoy power for an year in 2018 before the coup engineered by some senior Congress leaders resulted in the fall of JDS-Congress coalition government.

Once, the Janata Parivar was really a force to reckon with in Karnataka and had ruled the State out of its own strength besides sending as many as 16 MPs to Lok Sabha. But after the split, the Parivar also separated with some joining the Congress Party and others joining the BJP.

The ‘Parivar’ politics of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda by promoting his family members, especially making his son Kumaraswamy the CM, by neglecting the seniority of other leaders like Siddaramaiah, resulted in the exodus of several leaders.As days progressed, the JDS became a party of ‘family centric’ with the promotion of their sons, daughter-inlaws, grandsons in politics at the cost of hard working leaders and workers.

From one election to another, the strength of JDS began dwindling and it risks elimination if urgent steps were not taken. Currently, this party has only a few popular names like Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy, H.D. Revanna, C.M. Ibrahim, Anitha Kumaraswamy, Prajwal Revanna, Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bhavani Revanna. Among them except Ibrahim, all others belong to the Gowda family. A JDS legislator, who is all set to say bye to the party by this year’s end, told News Trail that Deve Gowda has to be blamed for the downfall of the JDS in the State.

Gowda’s excessive love for his family, and nomination of businessmen to the State Legislative Council stunted its growth. Once upon a time, this party was quite strong in north Karnataka, but over the years the party got weakened and ceded ground to BJP. In the 2018 Assembly election, the JDS had won several Assembly seats in Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Tumkur, Chitradurga and Ramanagar. But, its base had been eroded in the last four years, especially in Mandya and Hassan districts.

A few JDS legislators of Mandya and Hassan, a Vokkaliga stronghold, have already decided to join Congress or BJP. “The party is in shambles and is beyond repair. Unless some drastic steps are taken the JDS will become history in the 2023 Assembly polls. First and foremost, the party must identify the potential leaders and promote them instead of pushing its family members.”