The Janata Dal (Secular) formally joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday as Former Karnataka Chief Minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. BJP President JP Nadda and Goa CM Pramod Sawant were also present during the meeting.
BJP President Jagt Prasad Nadda confirmed the development with a tweet, sharing photos of the meeting. He posted: Met Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and JD(S) leader Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy in the presence of our senior leader and Home Minister Shri @AmitShah Ji. I am happy that JD(S) has decided to be the part of National Democratic Alliance. We wholeheartedly welcome them in the NDA. This will further strengthen NDA and vision of Hon PM @narendramodi Ji for “New India, Strong India”.
Talking to the media after the meeting, HD Kumaraswamy said, “Today formally we discussed about joining hands with the BJP as an NDA partner. We’ve discussed the preliminary issues formally, all the outcomes will be announced at a proper time. When asked, he said that his party has not made any demand in exchange for joining the ruling alliance.
This came after former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda and his son Kumaraswamy met BJP President JP Nadda and Amit Shah in the Parliament on Thursday.
There were speculations in Karnataka’s political circles for the past few months that the JD(S) could ally with the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The JD(S) had aligned with the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, however, the parties faced a drubbing as the BJP swept 25 out of the 28 seats in Karnataka and even an independent candidate supported by the BJP won from the Mandya constituency.
The JD(S) has allied with both the BJP and the Congress in Karnataka in the past. The United Front government of H. D. Deve Gowda at the centre was supported by Congress.
Though the JD(S) won 19 seats in the recent Assembly polls that were held in May, it was the party’s worst performance in history. Notably, the party was not invited either to the NDA meeting in Delhi or to the meeting of the Opposition- INDIA bloc in Bengaluru in July.