You have to come to JD(S) after polls, HDK warns BJP

Former JD(S) chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday warned the BJP saying the saffron party would have to go to him after the 2023 polls, in what was widely seen as him predicting a fractured mandate in Karnataka.

Kumaraswamy said this after releasing the first list of 93 JD(S) candidates for the 2023 Assembly election.

“In 2023, you'll have to come to JD(S). Be careful. It's not easy for the BJP to survive. I've decided to throw out the BJP in the state. I don't need to learn from you,” Kumaraswamy said, reacting to BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh’s sneering comments about the JD(S).

Kumaraswamy said both BJP and Congress will be “rejected” by the people. “We want to bring a government that is for and by Kannadigas,” he said.

The JD(S) leader specified later that he did not mean a coalition with the BJP. “When an independent JD(S) government comes, BJP leaders will have to come to me to get work done. Why should I form a government with looters?” he said.

On Sunday, Santhosh mocked the JD(S) during the BJP’s state-level convention of prakoshtas (cells). “At once, the Pancha Ratna Yatra has come. Like always, there are announcements that this would be their last election. They’re going to the election by crying on stage. There’s sacrifice - father to son, mother to son. It’s election time,” Santhosh had said in a veiled attack on the JD(S).

“Mr Santhosh, what’s your contribution to Karnataka? You’ve looted the state and used that money to buy MLAs. You used cricket betting money to bring down my government. You’re living off of Modi’s name,” Kumaraswamy said.

The JD(S) will resume its Pancha Ratha Yatra from Basavakalyan in Bidar on January 3 or 4, Kumaraswamy said. “This campaign will continue until March 20,” he said.