The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : JD(S) looks strong under Third Front

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Sunday, Mar 22, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

JD(S) looks strong under Third Front

S. Rajendran

The party has left two seats for Left parties

The party gets a fillip in the process of rebuilding
JD(S) talking to like-minded organisations

Bangalore: The Janata Dal (Secular) has received a boost since the formation of the Third Front and its launch in Tumkur.

The party has been rebuilding its base for over a year now. It can count on two factors — the opposition of a section of the people to the Hindutva philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party Government and the lack of understanding and coordination among the top leaders of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. This was evident in the byelection results to eight Assembly seats in which the Janata Dal (Secular) won three with the BJP winning the remaining and the Congress drawing a blank.

In Karnataka, the Janata Dal (Secular) has agreed to share two of the 28 seats with its Left allies.

These are Mangalore, which has been given to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Udupi-Chikmagalur to the Communist Party of India. There are several other minor political parties and political organisations with which the party has to finalise an understanding to ensure a consolidation of votes in its favour.

The Janata Dal (Secular) founded in 1999 after the split in the erstwhile Janata Dal won only two Lok Sabha seats — that of Hassan (H.D. Deve Gowda ) and Chamarajanagar (Shivanna) — in 2004 general elections, although the party emerged a major force in the Legislative Assembly elections which was held simultaneously.

At the height of its popularity, the Janata Dal won 16 seats in May 1996 Lok Sabha elections which catapulted Mr. Deve Gowda, the then Chief Minister, to head the United Front Government for nearly 11 months.

The successor Government headed by I.K. Gujral could also be formed thanks to the Janata Dal being a major constituent of the United Front with over 40 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Can spring a surprise

The former Chief Minister and State unit president of the Janata Dal (Secular) H.D. Kumaraswamy, who has been talking to some like-minded organisations seeking their support, told The Hindu that the party was confident of springing a surprise in the elections.

“I am confident we will win most of the seats in the Old Mysore region apart from the Hyderabad Karnataka region,” he said.

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