BENGALURU: Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) state president and former union minister CM Ibrahim on Monday claimed that the “original” JDS is with him and it will never have an alliance with BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“I appeal to former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, who is 92, not to take a wrong step. He was made prime minister because of his secular credentials. I took him around and resolved many issues, including the Hubballi Idga Maidan row. I appeal to him not to go with the BJP,” he said at a meeting of his sympathisers.
Janata Dal-United state president Mahima Patel, son of former chief minister JH Patel, attended the meeting.
As JDS units of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have decided not to ally with NDA, the Karnataka unit will follow the same path, Ibrahim said.
The veteran leader, who took the moral responsibility for the JDS’ debacle in the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka and had plans to quit the party in the wake of its alliance with the BJP, sprung a surprise by declaring that the JDS is his own party. “The party is not an asset of any family,” he said.
“Ours is the original JDS, which is secular. Our party’s decision is not to go with the NDA as it must be defeated. We decided to back I.N.D.I.A. I will personally speak to all JDS MLAs in this regard. A core committee will be formed to take a stand on the alliance. That will take the decision further. I will meet Deve Gowda and convey the message,” he said.
He said the BJP favours the National Register of Citizens (NRC), it is against Muslim personal law, and against Ambedkar’s Constitution. Hence, he is against having an alliance with the BJP. “If Modi and Amit Shah accepted our secular ideology, they would have approached Deve Gowda for support. But Kumaraswamy went to them. It is his personal decision and not the party’s. No resolution was passed by the party favouring the alliance,” he said.
Ibrahim criticised Kumaraswamy for blaming Muslims for the party’s poor performance in the Assembly elections.
“If 20,000 Muslims had not voted for Kumaraswamy in Channapatna, he would have been defeated and Shah would not have met him. Despite 22% of Muslims voting for the JDS, only 19 candidates won. This means the Vokkaligas have distanced from the party,” he said.