Bengaluru: BJP will have an understanding with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda led JD(S) for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in the State.
The veteran leader, who is also the BJP parliamentary board member, said that, as part of the poll understanding, the JD(S) will contest in four Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 constituencies.
“BJP and JD(S) will have an understanding. Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) has agreed to give four Lok Sabha seats,” to the JD(S)),” the four-time Chief Minister said.
Though more negotiations are in the pipeline, sources said that 91-year-old Deve Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy had put forth the proposal to the BJP only after they met JD(S) stakeholders.
“Consensus (on seat sharing) has been given by JD(S) leaders,” sources confirmed.
The five Lok Sabha seats asked by the JD(S) are Mandya, Hassan, Tumakuru, Chickballapur, and Bengaluru Rural. But, BJP apparently agreed to give them only four.
The discussions come months after Deve Gowda, in July, said that his party would fight the Lok Sabha elections independently, denying the possibility of an electoral tie-up with the BJP-led NDA.
“Whether we (the party) win five, six, three, two or one seats, we will fight the Lok Sabha elections independently”, Deve Gowda had said.
Karnataka has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. In the 2019 elections, the BJP won 25 seats, while a party-backed candidate also emerged victorious. The Congress and JD(S) secured one seat each. In the JD(S) bastion of Hassan, Deve Gowda’s grand-son Prajwal Revanna had won.
