BENGALURU: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy appears to have begun positioning himself as the NDA’s chief ministerial face for the 2028 Karnataka Assembly elections, stepping up attacks on Chief Minister D K Shivakumar over the Bidadi township, the NICE project and the alleged sting operation controversy.
Kumaraswamy has also accused the Congress leadership of betraying AHINDA leader and former CM Siddaramaiah by removing from the top post, with the BJP joining the attack in an apparent bid to reach sections of the Kuruba community to which the latter belongs to.
“An NDA government is certain to come to power in Karnataka in 2028. I will show another side of myself then,” Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hassan on Sunday.
However, the proposed BJP-JD(S) alliance faces competing ambitions over seat-sharing and leadership, said political analyst Prof Sandeep Shastri.
He said Kumaraswamy wants to ensure the identity of the JDS and convince BJP that only an alliance with his party can help it do well. “He is also trying to project himself as the most favourable face for the alliance,” Shastri opined.
BJP’s ambition to secure a majority on its own could complicate negotiations, as JDS is likely to seek a substantial share of seats.
“JDS is desperate for an alliance because of the shrinkage of its vote share. But will the BJP, in its long-term calculations, go for an alliance and therefore contest a lesser number of seats?” Shastri wondered.
Shastri said that JDS could seek 40 to 60 seats, creating a dilemma for the BJP, which would have to balance the benefits of an alliance against its own expansion plans.
Shastri said the outcome would depend not merely on seat-sharing arithmetic but also on whether voters transferred their support between the two parties. “The mathematics of the alliance alone is not important. The chemistry of the alliance is also important,” he said, adding that BJP would have to assess whether the arrangement could effectively challenge the Congress.
On attempts to portray Siddaramaiah as having been sidelined, Shastri said the argument did not fully reflect the ground reality.
“His son has been accommodated in the Cabinet, and a large number of ministers in the current government owe their loyalty to Siddaramaiah,” he said.
Shastri also identified the rivalry between Kumaraswamy and CM DK Shivakumar in the Old Mysuru region, particularly over Vokkaliga votes, as a significant factor in the emerging political contest.
He said BJP and JDS would have to reconcile their ambitions over seats, leadership and vote transfer before a full-fledged alliance could take shape.
HDK and we are not separate, says BSY
DAVANAGERE: Expressing confidence in the BJP-JDS alliance, former CM BS Yediyurappa said the two parties would contest the 2028 Assembly elections together and form the next government. “HD Kumaraswamy and we are not separate. We will work together to form the next government,” he said.
May God bless them, quips Shivakumar
MYSURU: Reacting to statements by BJP and JDS leaders that a coalition government would come to power in Karnataka in 2028, CM DK Shivakumar mockingly said, “May God bless them.” Taking a dig at Union Minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy, he recalled his earlier remarks about dissolving his party if it failed to secure a majority in the elections. Shivakumar also referred to Kumaraswamy’s past statements about the BJP and the RSS,
saying they were all part of
the political record.
