BengaluruDecember 28, 2025 07:30 AM IST
First published on: Dec 28, 2025 at 07:30 AM IST
A day after Janata Dal (Secular) national president and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda appeared to cast doubt over the JD(S)-BJP alliance in the Karnataka local body polls by suggesting that his party would go solo, the regional party sought to play down the former’s remarks, insisting that its partnership with the BJP remained intact and would continue for the local body polls scheduled early next year.
Gowda’s comments came in the backdrop of the BJP’s recent victories in four urban local bodies, including Doddaballapur, which is considered a JD(S) stronghold in the Vokkaliga heartland.
Addressing a press conference Saturday, the 91-year-old JD(S) leader drew a distinction between the NDA alliance for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections and the one at the level of the polls in rural and urban local bodies.
“Though there are no differences in our (JDS-BJP) relationship at the national level, for local body polls, it won’t be possible for us to reach agreements,” Gowda said, arguing that local dynamics made seat-sharing difficult in zilla panchayats, taluk panchayats, city councils and municipal corporations.
Linking the BJP’s performance in Doddaballapur to Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra’s stated goal of his party winning 140 seats on its own in the 2028 Assembly elections, Gowda said he was not opposed to Vijayendra’s assertion, but underlined that the JD(S), too, needed to protect its organisational base where it remained strong.
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“Since JD(S) leaders cannot sit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss seat-sharing for local bodies, the understanding can only be for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections,” Gowda said, signalling a functional rather than ideological disagreement.
However, the JD(S) camp made it clear Saturday that Gowda’s remarks were “more tactical than definitive”. Speaking to The Indian Express on condition of anonymity, a senior JD(S) leader close to ex-PM said his statement was only a “logical response” to Vijayendra’s comments. “How is it possible to speak of an alliance when the BJP state president talks about contesting alone and securing a majority?” the leader asked, adding that Union minister and senior JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy had already taken up this issue with Shah and other top BJP leaders. “The NDA alliance will continue, including for local bodies,” he said.
Vijayendra, responding cautiously to the situation arising out of Gowda’s statement, said the state BJP unit would follow the party high command’s decision. “We will abide by what the party leaders decide. If they want us to fight the elections together, we will go together,” he said.
Yet, the episode has laid bare the underlying strain in the alliance as the local body polls approach. JD(S) leaders are increasingly wary that continuing the tie-up at the grassroots level could erode the party’s traditional support base, particularly among Vokkaligas — a concern sharpened by the Doddaballapur result.
JD(S) sources said that an internal assessment of the City Municipal Council elections suggested that even Vokkaliga voters may have shifted towards the BJP, setting off “warning bells” within the JD(S). Gowda’s public remarks, sources said, were aimed as much at reassuring party workers as at signalling some unease with the alliance.
The JD(S) is stepping up its preparations for the forthcoming round of local body elections, which will cover hundreds of civic bodies across the state. As part of this effort to consolidate its cadre, the party has planned a series of conventions in January, beginning with a workers’ meet in Bengaluru on January 18, followed by another in Hassan on January 25.