The tie-up between Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to humble the ruling Congress in the byelections to Bangalore Rural and Mandya Lok Sabha constituencies appears to be on the verge of a break-up even as the results are expected by evening on Saturday.
Describing the tie-up with the Janata Dal(S) as “temporary” and limited to the byelections, BJP State president Pralhad Joshi clarified that the future of the tie-up hinged on whether the Janata Dal(S) accepted the BJP’s Election Campaign Committee chairperson, Narendra Modi, as the prime ministerial candidate.
The BJP’s reaction comes in the wake of a statement by Janata Dal(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy that if his party won a substantial number of seats in the general elections, there were chances of party national president H.D. Deve Gowda becoming prime minister again.
It appears that the Janata Dal(S) does no want to endorse Mr. Modi’s candidature, thereby risking its chances with minority votes.
Workers unhappy
Interestingly, workers of the two parties are not happy with the understanding reached between their top leaders. None of the BJP leaders campaigned publicly for the Janata Dal(S) candidate except the former Minister R. Ashok, who campaigned for Ms. Anita Kumaraswamy in some pockets of Bangalore South Assembly segment.
The Janata Dal(S), on the other hand, is still refusing to acknowledge the fact that the party had had a tie-up with the BJP.
Senior Janata Dal(S) leader and MLC Basavaraj S. Horatti said that there was no question of discussing any condition to be laid down by the BJP for a tie-up for the general elections. Issues such as political alliance would be taken up in the party’s parliamentary committee of which he was a member, he said.
