JD(S) Chief Deve Gowda Justifies Alliance With BJP, Accuses Congress of Undermining Secular Forces

Defending his party's alliance with the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda criticised the Congress for pretending to be secular democrats while actively working to undermine secular forces across the country.

According to Deve Gowda, the recent pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party does not indicate a departure from the JD(S)'s commitment to secular ideals.

“Even if we form a government with the BJP, we will not let go of minority protection. There should be no doubt that we will protect the minorities,” Deve Gowda was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Deve Gowda accused the Congress of repeatedly attempting to destroy his party whenever they formed an alliance with the national party.

“I will give you hundreds of instances, (where) for your own political gain, to retain the politics in one family, political control by one family, you want to fool (people),” he said.

Gowda alluded to the role of senior Congress leaders in Karnataka in the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2019.

In the past, JD(S) leaders have accused Congress leader and Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah of instructing his loyalists to defect to the BJP, leading to the collapse of the coalition government under H D Kumaraswamy.

“Who was responsible for the formation of the BJP government here? Doesn’t the Congress central leadership know this?” he asked.

Gowda also criticised the Congress for failing to support B M Farooq, who was nominated by the JD(S) as a candidate for Rajya Sabha.

Without naming any individuals, Gowda highlighted how influential leaders were involved in the defeat of B M Farooq.

“Who got him defeated? They are all big leaders. I don’t want to take their name. This is the (status of) secular party,” Gowda said.

“Congress has committed, one after other, blunder after blunder and wants to talk about secular democracy,” he said.

According to Gowda, during the initial stages of the proposal for a pact, the potential impact of the alliance on the regional party was discussed.

The decision to align was arrived at after discussions with all 19 MLAs and 8 MLCs.

Is there any party in the country which “can claim not to have any relationship with BJP?” he asked.

He claimed that even some Left leaders had joined forces with the saffron party to defeat Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.

Gowda emphasized that the alliance with BJP was not driven by opportunistic politics.

“The pain to save the regional party I worked for 40 years. There is no greed in this. It is I who made the decision," he said.

The discussion of seat-sharing between the two parties has not taken place yet.

According to Gowda, BJP Parliamentary Board will first deliberate on the alliance before seat-sharing is discussed.

Addressing concerns about some leaders from the Muslim community severing ties with the JD(S) following the alliance, Gowda assured that his party was committed to protecting the minorities.

"We have not let down the minorities and will not do so in the future… Even if we form a government with BJP we will not let go of minority protection. There should be no doubt. We will protect minorities,” he said.

In response to a question about the dissatisfaction expressed by Karemma, the MLA from Devdurg, Raichur district, Deve Gowda stated that the legislator had personally assured him that he would remain loyal to the party as long as both Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy were alive.