Nikhil Kumaraswamy to lead 58-day statewide JDS rally in Karnataka

“The Janata Dal Secular (JDS) party is now part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance. But unless we grow stronger, the regional party cannot bargain for more seats in the next Parliament elections. Our vote share was around 22 per cent, which is now on the decline. We need to build and strengthen the party to stay relevant in state politics,” cautioned JDS youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy during the launch of the ‘Janarondige Janata Dala’ (‘JDS with the People’) campaign in Bengaluru on Sunday.

The 58-day statewide campaign will begin in Tumakuru on Monday and culminate in Mysuru on August 16, after covering the Old Mysuru region, also the stronghold of the party. The campaign will see an online “missed call” membership drive targeting 50 lakh new members.

The move is significant to the party, which shares power at the Centre, with JDS state president H.D. Kumaraswamy being part of the Modi cabinet. However, the alliance also poses an existential crisis for the regional party.

The longest-surviving regional party in the state struck an alliance with the BJP ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary polls after it lost significant ground, especially in the Vokkaliga heartland, to its arch-rival, the Congress, which captured power in the state with a thumping 135-plus seats in the 2023 Assembly polls.

The BJP-JDS alliance in Karnataka came through in September 2023 after JDS patriarch and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda finally agreed to join the NDA, a move aimed at stabilising its party while buying time to reinvent itself, to retain and expand its seats beyond Old Mysuru.

The state BJP, which has never won a clear majority in Karnataka and resorted to ‘Operation Lotus’ to make up for the shortfall, is hoping to independently expand its presence in the Old Mysuru region with an aim to cross the magic number (113 in the 224-member Assembly). Also, the frequent friction between the state BJP leaders and the JDS (as both allies are holding separate protest rallies against the ruling party) and the fear of a merger among the grassroots workers of both parties, which threatens to stunt local leadership, has forced the JDS to energise its cadres and keep up the fight.  

“Morarji handed over this party to me, and the party has survived for so long despite a split. This party will survive long after I am gone. Whoever is proclaiming that they will finish this party should listen to this carefully. Those who criticise the JDS, calling it a family-centric party, should clarify how they all started in the JDS and are today occupying top posts and power,” said the former PM.

Recalling how the Congress party had ousted the JDS from its old office building, Deve Gowda said, “A Kuruba woman, who was the mayor, sanctioned this land to build our new office, which is named after Jayaparakash Narayan.”

Stating that many regional parties were still in power in many states, Deve Gowda also justified the party’s alliance with NDA and said, “This shows the regional parties are still relevant, and JDS is one such party. Today, there is no leader who can match the charisma and power of Narendra Modi. This is the truth, and our alliance is inevitable. But the fact that the PM has recognised JDS as a reliable partner and given a Union cabinet berth to our party is also because of the party’s strength.”

The party is also battling the leadership vacuum. Kumaraswamy is now the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel and has little time for party work; Deve Gowda, at 92, is a Rajya Sabha member; Kumaraswamy’s brother and MLA H.D. Revanna, his nephew and former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna are facing legal entanglements over a sex scandal.

“This party should survive, and I urge you all to support Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who has lost three elections but has not lost his courage.,” said the grandfather, referring to Nikhil’s consecutive defeats in Mandya (Parliament elections 2019), Ramnagara Assembly (2023) and Channapatna Assembly bypoll (2024).

Kumaraswamy stated that the price rise, tax burden, stunted development and series of tragedies had made the common man wary of the Congress government, and it was time for the JDS to thrive and provide a political alternative to the people. 

India