JD(S) pact: BSY says yes, son says no

By Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Discordant voices are emerging from the ruling BJP on seeking support of the Janata Dal (Secular) in the coming election to 25 seats of the Legislative Council from the local bodies constituency, slated to be held on December 10.

On Thursday, former CM and BJP veteran, B.S.Yediyurappa said in Shivamogga that he has appealed to former CM and JD(S) leader, H.D.Kumaraswamy to support the saffron party in districts where the latter has not fielded its candidates. The JD(S) has fielded only seven candidates as against the 20 fielded by the BJP and Congress. So, Kumaraswamy was requested to support the saffron party in the remaining 15 constituencies to help in the victory of BJP candidates.

As opposed to this vew, BJP State Vice President and son of Yediyurappa, B.Y. Vijayendra has ruled out any ‘tacit understanding’ between the party and JD(S) and said they were confident of winning a majority number of seats on their own.

In the BJP, except for Yediyurappa, no other leader has been talking about the ‘secret understanding’ with the JD(S) and this has surprised everyone as they wonder why the veteran Lingayat leader is keen on taking the support of regional parties to sail through in the Council polls. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai or State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel too are not talking about the secret understanding between the two parties.

Yediyurappa first spoke about seeking JD(S) support at Chikkodi in Belagavi district during the Jan Swaraj Yatra led by him and subsequently, his statement was backed by leaders close to Yediyurappa like Honnali MLA M.P. Renukacharya. Since then, this has become the subject of animated discussion in political circles and gave the Congress party a reason to attack the JD(S) dubbing it ‘opportunist.’

Initially, Kumaraswamy had ruled out any ‘adjustment’ with the saffron party but later confirmed that it was left to local leaders in districts to finalise pacts in places where JD(S) candidates had not been fielded.