The Bhartiya Janta Party-led National Democratic Alliance NDA and Janta Dal (Secular) joined hands against Congress ahead of the LS polls in 2024. The seat sharing would be announced after the occasion of Dasara, i.e., after the end of next month. The JD (S) might get 3-4 seats out of 28 seats but the party is demanding more seats with 6-8 seats. BJP has said that the allocation of seats will be decided after the talks and discussions with the state leaders.
With the considerable influence of JD (S) in South Karnataka where BJP is weak, the saffron party believes that this alliance will make a stronghold and dominance of BJP in Karnataka in the 2024 LS Polls. The former CM of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy told the media, “We have joined NDA in the interest of people of Karnataka and against Congress, the ruling party of Karnataka which is completely indulged in corruption and working against farmers.” HDK further emphasized the party’s agenda and said that the agenda was to contest unitedly against Congress and to win all 28 seats in the state. Seat sharing is not a big issue and it is not important how many seats we will get.”
But thismove of JD(S) caused heartburn among its Muslim functionaries. Though JD(S) has always enjoyed support of minorities. State Vice-President Syed Shafiulla Khan resigned as a sign of their protest.IT-BTMinisterPriyankKharge said that the alliance would not affect the prospects of the ruling party in any way. In fact, he said that it is not clear that BJP is the ‘B’ team of JD(S) in Karnataka. For the last 100 days, the BJP has not appointed a leader of opposition in both houses and hence, they were eagerly waiting for the JD(S) to join hands with them, Kharge added.
FormerCMBSYediyurappa over the issue said, “Together we will build a stronger new India and NDA.” FormerCMofthestateBasavrajBommai feels the alliance would be a political game-changer in Karnataka. Bommai further added that Congress has failed terribly in the state in the last four months and most importantly people of Karnataka want to see this alliance of both parties against the ruling government. People will see more joint agitations in the coming days, he added.