The speed with which the Congress-Janata Dal(S) alliance came about on the afternoon of May 15 was a matter of much surprise to those who knew the strained relations between the two parties. That the alliance was stitched up, publicly announced and on the road to Raj Bhavan far ahead of the BJP’s move, was the product of three days of intense backroom talks between the two parties.
While the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad is now well-known, the part played by JD(S)’ secretary general Kunwar Danish Ali remained unknown until he made it to all the photo-ops of Karnataka Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
According to sources, it was a midnight call between Mr. Azad and Mr. Ali on May 13, two days before the results were out, that set the ball rolling.
“It was clear to the JD(S) that talk of a secret deal with the BJP during the campaign had resulted in a desertion by minorities. The Congress, too, anticipated a less than stellar performance,” said a source. Mr. Ali was instrumental in speaking to both former prime minister Deve Gowda and Mr. Kumaraswamy about Mr. Azad’s call, but only on the night of May 14.
“Mr. Deve Gowda just told him to speak to Mr. Kumaraswamy, while the latter was a bit apprehensive after the bitter campaign by the Congress,” said a source. Mr. Deve Gowda was for a wait and watch approach, sources said, but Mr. Kumaraswamy, once convinced by Mr. Ali, issued a public statement sealing the alliance.
“He was convinced that this alliance would have far-reaching consequences for the 2019 polls too,” said a source.
Mr. Ali, 54, had also sewn up the party’s alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) before the polls, with the BSP contesting in 20 seats and winning one, a historic first for them.
He entered politics as the national president of the Janata Dal student wing in 1994, as a student in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, and has stuck with the Gowdas through thick and thin. He came to the attention of the former prime minister especially during the 1994 Assembly polls in Karnataka when he was speaking at a rally in Ramanagara.
In his more than quarter of a century with the Janata Dal(S) and its earlier avatar, Mr. Ali has contested one Assembly poll from Garhmukhteswar in Uttar Pradesh, the State he hails from. Apart from his grand uncle, Kunwar Mahmood Ali, who owed allegiance to the Indian National Lok Dal under late prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, and was Governor of Madhya Pradesh between 1992-93, no one else from his family is in politics.
