BENGALURU: Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy met Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday and held talks with him on strengthening the NDA in view of elections to the BBMP Council and local bodies in the state.
Nikhil is likely to meet BJP national president JP Nadda soon. “I discussed the Channapatna bypoll outcome with Shah and he gave me some valuable suggestions and encouraged me to work towards strengthening the NDA in the state. We also discussed the coming elections to zilla and taluk panchayats as BJP and JDS will fight them together,” Nikhil told reporters.
He claimed that Shah gave him suggestions to strengthen the NDA at the grassroots. To a query, he admitted that the elections to local bodies will be a challenge to the NDA as there will be many ticket seekers from BJP and JDS. “Workers at the grassroots will face the challenge successfully,” he said.
Nikhil said that all top BJP leaders, whom he met, highlighted the need for BJP and JDS to launch a struggle together against the Congress government, which has left people of the state in the lurch.
“I am a disciplined soldier of JDS which has given me an identity in society. I am aware of my limitations. I am a loyal party worker. I identify myself with workers at the grassroots and work with them. There are many seniors in our party and I work under their guidance”, Nikhil, JDS youth wing president, said in his reply to talks of him becoming the party’s state president.