Deve Gowda defends alliance with BJP, says ‘will never let minorities down’; Siddaramaiah takes a dig at JD(S), asks ‘are they still secular?’ | India News

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo Deve Gowda on Wednesday defended his party’s decision to join hands with the BJP in Karnataka and said the tie-up was necessary to save the JD(S).
“This party has to be saved, which has been his pain and struggle for decades, and there is no selfishness in this. I took the decision,” Deve Gowda said.
The Congress has questioned the secular credentials of JD(S) after former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy announced tie-up with the BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections last week.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah took a swipe at Deve Gowda and said it should not call itself a secular party after forging an electoral alliance with the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“Name says secular. Are they secular now? Should we accept what they say ? Even after going with a communal party, still they are secular? Should we accept ? Let them go with BJP or anybody we don’t have objections. But they should not say they are secular, that’s all. They should not say that Janata Dal is a secular party”, the CM said.
Several JD(S) leaders have quit after the announcement which followed the party’s drubbing in the assembly elections. The JD(S) could win only 19 seats and also lost considerable vote share in the elections.

Reaching out to leaders of minority community within the JD(S), Deve Gowda said there is nothing for anyone to fear as in 50 years of political struggle he had not let injustice happen to any community from this party.
“We (JDS) have never done politics by even slightly letting down our secular credentials and there is no question of doing it in the future too. I’m saying this very frankly. Before Kumaraswamy met BJP leaders, I had met the Union Home Minister (Amit Shah), there is nothing to hide in it, and had spoken to him on the situation in Karnataka politics in detail,” Gowda said.
Deve Gowda claimed that the JD(S) has not and will not let down minorities. “The party may align with any one, but the protection of minorities will continue,” Gowda said.
The JD(S) patriarch also rejected charges of practising opportunistic politics.
“I want to make it categorically clear, including to the media — we are not power-hungry politicians,” the former Prime Minister said.
His claims notwithstanding, the JD(S) has shared power both with the BJP and the Congress in the past.
The JD(S) had earlier formed government in coalition with BJP for 20 months from January 2006 and with the Congress for 14 months from May 2018, with Kumaraswamy as the chief minister.
Deve Gowda’s son and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy played down discontent in the party over saffron alliance.
Asked about some minority leaders planning to quit JD(S), Kumaraswamy said, “Such things keep happening in politics, there is nothing big in it. We have tried to explain everything and process to minority leaders in the party, including JD(S) state president C M Ibrahim. We have not illtreated anyone.”
Kumaraswamy accused the Congress of trying to destroy the secular forces and slammed Rahul Gandhi for calling JD(S) the B-team of the BJP.
The former chief minister claimed that when JD(S) had forged an alliance with the Congress party, he had got a call from Amit Shah. “If I would have agreed, I would have become the CM for five years. I respected the words of Deve Gowda and went with Congress,” Kumaraswamy underlined.
Kumaraswamy also accused the Congress of trying to “finish off” the JD(S) after having an alliance with the regional party.
(With inputs from agencies)