Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai applauded the seat sharing deal between his party and the HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular in Karnataka today, calling it a “very good alliance” and a “win-win situation”. The two parties, he pointed out, have complementary votebank and there are no clashes.
The BJP finalised its seat-sharing deal with the JDS this week, giving the regional ally three of the state’s 28 seats.
The BJP had earlier announced candidates for 20 seats in Karnataka, the only southern state where it has got a significant presence. The party has been scouting for allies in the rest, but is yet to find a sizeable ally.
In 2019, the BJP had won 25 out of the state’s 28 seats despite being out of power in the state. The Congress and the JDS won one each. The JDS victory was in Hassan, the bastion of Mr Devegowda.
“Coming into the mainstream was essential for JDS,” Mr Bommai told NDTV in an exclusive interview. “The Congress had dumped them more than two-three times. So HD Devegowda took a call,” he said.
There is a “good relationship between the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and the former Prime Minister (HD Devegowda),”he added.
The JDS – which initially wanted five seats — will be contesting in Mandya, Hassan and Kolar seats, sources have said. All three seats are in the dominant Vokkaliga belt of the state, where the BJP had very little presence and had to fight the Congress.
Also, in Bangalore Rural, JDS patriarch HD Devegowda’s son-in-law CN Manjunath will contest on the BJP’s lotus symbol.
Mr Bommai underscored the “complementary” nature of the support areas of the two parties. Giving an example, he said the BJP influence is the north and central parts of the state while the JDS bastions lie in and around Bengaluru.
