Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Deve Gowda reacted to talks of Muslim leaders quitting the party and termed it as Congress's "propaganda". This comes days after JD(S) announced its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The JD(S) had on September 22 joined hands with the BJP-led NDA to take on the Congress party in Karnataka in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy made the announcement of the tie-up after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda in the national capital. Responding to a query on Muslim leaders quitting the party, HD Deve Gowda said, "It is a negative propaganda made by Congress".
Addressing a press conference, the former Prime Minister said that the decision to ally with the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections was taken after consultation with his party colleagues. “Before allying with BJP, I took the views of our 19 MLAs and 8 MLCs who said that JD(S) should consider entering into an understanding with BJP,” Deve Gowda said, as quoted by the news agency ANI.
He said that he had not met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that he had met Home Minister Amit Shah for the first time in the last 10 years. “We are not power-hungry politicians... I held a discussion with Home Minister Amit Shah for the first time in the last 10 years... I have not met PM Modi... I also explained the political situation in Karnataka to HM…” Deve Gowda said.
The JD(S) chief said that Kumaraswamy will join the sit-in protest against the State government by former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa over the Cauvery water-sharing issue near the Gandhi statue in Bengaluru today.
Will Not Disrespect Any Muslim Leader From JDS-BJP Alliance: HD Kumaraswamy
JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy refuted the claims of Muslim leaders quitting the party and said, "nobody is resigning, some workers they will resign". He said, "There is no question of loss, nobody is resigning, some workers may resign".
Kumaraswamy said, “We will not disrespect any Muslim leader from JDS-BJP alliance. We have discussed about the BJP-JDS alliance with JDS state president CM Ibrahim. There will be more talks regarding the JDS-BJP alliance after the Dussehra festival, where seat sharing may be discussed," Kumaraswamy said, as quoted by the news agency ANI.
JD(S) Karnataka Vice President Syed Shafiulla Saheb, Other Leaders Resigned After Announcement Of Alliance
Following the announcement of the new alliance, JD(S) Karnataka vice president, Syed Shafiulla Saheb and other leaders including M Srikanth and UT Ayesha Farzana tendered their resignation from the party and reportedly there is discontent among several Muslim functionaries in the party, as reported by ANI.