BENGALURU: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday asserted that the JDS and BJP will contest the 2028 Karnataka Assembly elections together and said the recent cross-voting in the Legislative Council elections will not impact the alliance between the two parties.
Kumaraswamy will also meet BJP National President Nitin Nabin in New Delhi to brief him about the political developments in the aftermath of the Council polls, which witnessed cross-voting by NDA legislators.
Kumaraswamy said the JDS had 17 votes and had expected 4-5 additional votes from the BJP. He, however, admitted that even with those extra votes, the party would not have secured a victory.
“We had sought the BJP’s excess votes. Even if we had received 22 votes, we would not have won. But it would have boosted the confidence of JDS workers,” he said, maintaining that cross-voting was not an unusual phenomenon and cited similar instances in other states.
The former CM said he had consulted JDS legislators before fielding a candidate and had also discussed the matter with state BJP President BY Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition in Assembly R Ashoka and BJP National President Nitin Nabin.
Dismissing speculation about cracks in the alliance, Kumaraswamy said there was mutual trust between BJP and JDS. “This will not affect our alliance. We are going to fight the 2028 Assembly elections together,” he said, urging the media not to exaggerate the issue.
Kumaraswamy also said he had told JDS MLAs that those who felt they had no future in the party were free to leave, but should not adopt double standard.
