Kumaraswamy and his father H D Deve Gowda– the JD(S) national president– met PM Modi earlier in the day. He said seat-sharing was also discussed during the meeting.
2024 Lok Sabha Polls: The Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will complete the seat-sharing talks for next year’s general elections by the end of January, Karnataka JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy said on Thursday, adding that the party will only “winnable” seats and the number does not matter.
“Seat-sharing (talks) between the two parties will be completed comfortably by the end of January. There will be no hurdle in that,” Kumaraswamy told reporters after holding a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Kumaraswamy and his father H D Deve Gowda– the JD(S) national president– met PM Modi earlier in the day. The former Karnataka chief minister said the seat-sharing matter was also discussed during the meeting.
The BJP and the JD(S) joined hands in Karnataka after the Congress won the state polls earlier this year.
Asked how many seats the JD(S) will seek, the former chief minister said, “The number of seats does not matter, we will claim winnable seats”, adding that the alliance with the BJP has been formed to give a befitting reply to the Congress, which wants to finish the JD(S) in Karnataka.
The JD(S) won one Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections. Sources said the party is likely to ask for at least four-five seats for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, news agency PTI reported.
On the Congress’ allegations that the BJP is trying to destabilise its government in Karnataka, Kumaraswamy said, “Anything is possible. In Karnataka too, there are Ajit Pawar and (Eknath) Shinde.”
Kumaraswamy accused the Congress of double standards, saying while it has been raising the issue of Parliament security breach, it ignored the security lapse that occurred in the Karnataka assembly in July.
“One unnamed person sat on an MLA’s chair for an hour while the assembly session was going on in Karnataka. Why did the Congress friends not raise the issue at that time? Here in the Parliament, they are raising the (issue of) security breach to stall the proceedings,” he said.
He also targeted Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his remarks on the importance of having a strong opposition and alleged that attempts were being made to finish the JD(S) in the state.
“Does he mean that there should be a strong opposition at the Centre and not in the state,” he asked.
In the meeting with Modi, Kumaraswamy said he raised several issues concerning Karnataka, including a demand for increasing the minimum support price for copra amid falling prices and inclusion of the Kaadu Gollaru community in the Scheduled Tribes list so that its members can avail reservation benefits.
Deve Gowda’s other son and MLA H D Revanna as well as his grandson Prajwal Revanna, who is an MP from Hassan, accompanied him for the meeting with Modi at his residence here.
(With inputs from agencies)