Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda said on Saturday that his party expects that it will get a majority in the Karnataka Assembly. As many as 222 of the 224 constituencies in the state went to the polls on Saturday.
“We expect a possibility of forming the government, we have done well,” Gowda said according to ANI after casting his vote in Holenarasipura town in Hassan district. However, exit polls on Saturday evening showed a hung Assembly, and that the JD(S) would play the role of kingmaker.
Both the BJP and the Congress have accused each other of a secret alliance with the JD(S). But the party’s chief spokesperson and General Secretary Danish Ali told NDTV that there was no question of a tie-up with the BJP. “If the Congress is voted out, if Congress loses majority, if Congress goes below 100 [seats], then it is their responsibility to reach out to us.”
Ali claimed that his party had helped the Congress against the BJP but its gesture had not been reciprocated. “It is not the responsibility of only the JD(S) to show the certificate of secularism every time.”
HD Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda’s son, has indicated the possibility of an alliance with the BJP, which his father opposes. But Ali dismissed speculation that Kumaraswamy had partnered with the BJP. “It was to save the party from the Congress poaching lawmakers,” he claimed. “The Congress uses its energy only to destroy secular regional forces. That is why 21 states have gone to the BJP.”
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