Congress alleges JD(S) opting out of upcoming by-polls in Karnataka to benefit BJP

The war of words between Congress and its erstwhile ally Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) continues in Karnataka politics. Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday expressed displeasure over JDS deciding to opt-out of the upcoming by-polls in Karnataka claiming that the decision will benefit the BJP. Siddaramaiah took to Twitter and alleged that JDS is not contesting for the by-polls in North Karnataka as it is not strong in that region and wants its "marginal votes" to go to the BJP. 

Siddaramaiah's dig at JDS is in view of JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda announcement on Wednesday that his party will not field candidates for the by-elections for the state's Belgavi Lok Sabha seat and Assembly constituencies of Maski, Sindagi and Basava Kalyan. The by-poll schedule is yet to be announced by the Election Commission. It is alleged among the political spectrum about a growing bonhomie between JDS and BJP. Although the two parties have rubbished such a possibility but the JDS has asserted that it would provide issue-based support to the saffron party.

Moreso, in a deterioration of relations between the two erstwhile allies Congress and JDS, a bitter war of words has been going on between the two former chief ministers of Karnataka from the two parties. Earlier in January, Siddaramaiah had opined that forming a coalition government with JDS was a loss for the Congress as it lost 14 of its MLAs. Whereas Kumaraswamy while addressing a day-long party convention in January, attacked the Congress by revealing that he was not allowed to take his own decisions and was under pressure from Congress leaders including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

"There was tremendous pressure on me when I was Chief Minister by Siddaramaiah and other Congress Leaders when I was Chief Minister in the coalition government. I was working as a clerk and first division assistant," Kumaraswamy had said.

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JDS-Congress bittersweet relationship

With no party getting a clear majority in the 2018 assembly polls, Congress-JD(S) that had fought against each during the election joined hands to form a government with Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister to keep the BJP out of power. In the Karnataka assembly elections of 2018, the BJP won the most seats 104 seats out of the total 224 seats, however, the Congress and the JDS under UPA formed a coalition government with 120 seats combined. The JDS-Congress-led coalition government was in power in the state from May 2018 till July 2019, however, the collapse of the government with the defection of its MLAs to BJP gave way to the saffron party to form its government with BS Yediyurappa as the chief minister.

(with inputs from ANI)

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