BENGALURU: Trying to emerge as an alternative to the Congress and BJP in the state, JD(S) has struck an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the upcoming assembly election in Karnataka.
The JD(S) and the BSP on Thursday announced the alliance and said they will be fighting against both the Congress and the BJP in the state.
According to the poll understanding, BSP will contest in 20 out of the 224 Assembly constituencies in the state. The two parties will support each other in all the constituencies, BSP National General Secretary Satish Chandra Misra and JD(S) Secretary General Kunwar Danish Ali said at a joint press conference in New Delhi after finalising the pact.
Leaders of both the parties including JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda, party state president H D Kumaraswamy and BSP supremo Mayawati will hold a joint campaign to project the alliance as an effective alternative for the two national parties -- Congress and BJP -- in the state.
Asked if the alliance will eat into the ‘secular’ votes and will primarily hurt the Congress, Danish Ali said there was no question of eating into anybody’s votes as the JD(S) has its own strength and presence in Karnataka.
In the 2013 assembly elections, the Congress got 122 seats with 36.5 per cent vote share and formed the government. The BJP and JD(S) got 40 seats each with around 20 per cent vote share.
JD(S) and BSP are scheduled to hold a meeting in Bengaluru on February 17 where the poll plans and will be discussed.