BENGALURU: The Janata Dal Secular (JDS) opened its two-day national executive on Friday with a loud message of continuity and consolidation as the party marked 25 years of its formation. The silver jubilee event, bringing together delegates from 18 states, turned into a resounding endorsement of the party’s first family— HD Deve Gowda was re-elected national president unopposed, while Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy retained charge as state president.
The unanimous decision came at the national council meeting held at JP Bhavan in Bengaluru where leaders declared the duo indispensable to the party’s future.
“JDS is the only regional party to have survived and stayed strong for 25 years. This is because of the tireless efforts of Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy,” legislature party leader CB Suresh Babu told reporters.
Today, JDS has 19 MLAs, seven MLCs, and two MPs in Karnataka, in addition to representation in the Union cabinet. In Kerala, where it is a coalition partner of the LDF government, the party holds three Assembly seats and a ministerial berth. With leaders from 18 states in attendance, the national executive debated the party’s organisational expansion and spoke about the need to recalibrate its political strategy for the coming decade.
Two significant resolutions—one on strengthening the party organisation and another on farmers’ issues—were passed and will be ratified during the executive meeting on Sunday.
Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, JDS youth wing leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy said, “I don’t need power right now. I will work for the party. Bringing an independent JDS government is Deve Gowdaji’s dream, and to achieve that, I will work as an ordinary party worker.”
“Responding to public sentiment, we held the Saakappa Saaku protest at Freedom Park. From now on, we will intensify large-scale agitations against the government,” he said.
Addressing the allegation that “when JDS comes to power, it does not give power to its workers,” Nikhil said, “During the Congress-JDS coalition period, we could not do anything independently. We had to seek Congress permission for everything. That’s why we couldn’t give power to our workers.”