JD(S) ties up with NCP for 2018 Karnataka assembly election

Bengaluru: Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S), led by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, on Thursday announced a political alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for assembly elections in Karnataka, scheduled later this year.

NCP will contest 5-7 seats in the 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka, JD(S) said. JD(S), a regional party that won 40 seats in the 2013 assembly polls in Karnataka, has been pursuing new political partnerships to try and strengthen its position in weak constituencies and help increase its seat share in what is expected to be a contest between two national parties—Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

JD(S) has also been part of previous attempts by regional parties across states to put up a “Third Front” as an alternative to the two national parties. NCP chief Sharad Pawar is expected to campaign for about a week in Karnataka.

NCP unsuccessfully contested 24 seats in 2013, getting only 0.59% of the total vote share. JD(S), on the other hand, managed to get 20.45% of the vote share.

Earlier this month, JD(S) announced an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Both the NCP and BSP are recognized as national parties by the Election Commission but while the former’s strength lies in Maharashtra, the latter is mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, .

JD(S) has also made itself accessible to both the BJP and Congress in the past. In 2004, the Congress formed a government with the support of JD(S), which later withdrew support in favour of the BJP. The JD(S) formed an alliance with the Congress in 2015 to keep the BJP out of Bengaluru’s civic body. JD(S) also has an alliance with the BJP in the Karnataka legislative council.

“The fight is Congress versus the rest,” Dinesh Gundu Rao, working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said on Thursday. He said the JD(S) seriously fights only about 80 seats in the 224-member state assembly.

All three major political parties in Karnataka—JD(S), Congress and BJP—are leaving nothing to chance in the upcoming 2018 elections as a win here is likely to improve their chances in next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Harish Ramaswamy, political analyst and professor at the Karnatak University, Dharwad said that unless the JD(S) can repeat its 2006 or 2008 performance, allying with parties with no locus standi in Karnataka “amounts to nothing”.

“It’s like saying I am on ventilator and am being supported by these people,” he added.