CM Ibrahim appealed to former Prime Minister Gowda not to give permission for collaboration with the BJP. (File)
Bangalore:
Defying Janata Dal (S) supremo HD Deve Gowda’s decision on his party’s alliance with the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections, CM Ibrahim, president of the party’s Karnataka unit, on Monday said that the JD( S) will not join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. .
Hinting at a possible split in the party, the former Union minister claimed that his faction is the original JD(S) because he is ‘secular’ and as state president he can take a decision on the group in Karnataka.
He appealed to former Prime Minister Gowda not to agree to tie up with the BJP as many people in neighboring states have left the party.
“Our first decision is that the JD(S) will not agree with the NDA. The second decision was a request to Deve Gowda not to give consent to this alliance,” Ibrahim told reporters after a meeting with some party leaders.
He pointed out that JD(S) leaders had left the party in Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu after the BJP-JD(S) pact.
“However, in Karnataka we still have affection for you. You are a father figure. We will tell him (Gowda) that we should not have any relationship with the BJP,” Ibrahim said.
Mr Ibrahim added that he would form a core committee, which will meet Deve Gowda and convey the decision taken at today’s meeting.
Mr Ibrahim, who had served as Civil Aviation Minister in the HD Deve Gowda-led government at the Centre, called his faction the ‘original JD(S)’ and said his faction is ‘secular’.
To a question about his future course of action if Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy did not agree with his decision, Ibrahim said, “I am the state president. I have to decide on my party in the state, which I will take. Already we have decided that we will not go with the BJP. What more is there than this?” “If Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy have decided to go with the BJP, let them go,” he said.
“We ask them (Gowda and Kumaraswamy) not to go. If they go, we can’t bind them. As for (JD-S) MLAs, wait and see who, how many and where these MLAs will decide. We will do that. intimate with you when the time comes,” the JD(S) state president said.
He claimed that many MLAs are in touch with him but refused to mention their names.
“It will create pressure if I release their (MLA) names. I will also hold one-on-one meetings with the MLAs,” Ibrahim said.
Former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, second in command of the JD(S), agreed to join the NDA on September 22 after a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda in New Delhi.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
