JD(S) upbeat in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The meeting between Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao and former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday has come as a ray of hope for the embattled Janata Dal (Secular) party which is seen as fighting a losing battle against the onslaught of the Amit Shah-JP Nadda-led raid on its cadres.

Kumaraswamy and his clan are hoping the emerging political bonding in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu would change the fortunes of the party in the state, though they are not clear on what role he would play in national politics. It is quite clear that the meeting between the two leaders is aimed at forging a national grand alliance against the Modi-Shah-led BJP in the 2024 elections. At the same time, JD(S) may seek the help of KCR in the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2023, for which the party has already started preparing. The meeting comes at a time when the cadres of JD(S), especially in the Bayaluseeme and Old Mysuru regions, are fast eroding.

However, JD(S)' role in national politics is not well defined as it has only one Member of Parliament to its credit, Prajwal Revanna, who happens to be the nephew of Kumaraswamy.

Political observers from Karnataka see an opportunity for the JDS in this episode. A senior analyst told The Hans India that the JD(S) was passing through an existential crisis. The BJP's top bosses have decided that the party will poach leaders from the old Mysuru region and weaken JD(S) there. Amit Shah and JP Nadda have made it clear that JD(S) is the strength of the Congress in Karnataka politics.

Though the JD(S) had been sloganeering that 'it will keep equidistance from both the BJP and Congress on two occasions the JD(S) had forged an alliance with both the Congress and BJP. The party had no stand of its own and such parties cannot but be pushing opportunistic agendas.

In another scenario, with the JD(S) veteran leader HD Deve Gowda is out of active politics due to geriatric problems, in the coming elections, the Vokkaliga leaders in the party are in two minds about finding a Vokkaliga base. They are out of the JD(S) and the nearest they can find is DK Shiva Kumar-led Congress, who is a tall Vokkaliga leader in Karnataka. Even the Congress was not doing better in the current politics. Considering this, Kumaraswamy had no other way but to seek help from outside the state- feel the political pundits in the state.