BJP is ‘plotting to finish’ JD(S), cautions Krishna Byre Gowda

Minister Krishna Byre Gowda warns of BJP's plan to absorb JD(S) votes, potentially "finishing" the regional party.

Minister for Revenue Krishna Byre Gowda claimed on Sunday (December 8, 2024) that the BJP was planning to “finish” its alliance partner — the Janata Dal (Secular) — after cannibalising its votes.

Fielding reporters’ queries on the JD(S) plans to hold a convention in Mandya, Mr. Gowda said he was also in favour of JD(S) surviving as a political party as it had occupied political space in the State for a long time. However, he sought to caution the JD(S) about BJP’s alleged plot to subsume the regional party after drawing its voters to the saffron party’s fold.

He cited the outcome of the recent bypolls to the Channapatna Assembly constituency in the State and wondered how the JD(S) party’s vote share could decline so substantially even after aligning with the BJP if the latter had not “backstabbed” the regional party.

He said Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy had secured about 97,000 votes in constituency during a triangular contest held in the 2023 Assembly elections. “But, after the JD(S) joins hands with BJP, shouldn’t their tally of votes increase by atleast 10,000 and reach 1,07,000? Instead it dipped to 85,000,” he said before adding that Congress candidate C.P. Yogeshwar would not have won the election by a margin of 25,000 votes without indirect help from the BJP.

He said the BJP’s sole purpose was to take the JD(S) and Mr. Kumaraswamy with them, but only to derive benefit from the regional party before “finishing” it.

Mr. Gowda claimed that the JD(S) had helped the BJP win in about four to five seats in the State during the last Lok Sabha elections. Even though Mr. Kumaraswamy may have been given the post of a Minister at the Centre, the Revenue Minister warned the JD(S) that the saffron party will “swallow” it in future.

He said the Congress does not wish to eliminate any opposition party as their existence was necessary to keep democracy alive. “We will have to wait and see how the JD(S) escapes from the clutches of the BJP that is planning to gobble it up,” he said.