The changing political fortunes in Karnataka that saw Congress romp home with a thumping majority has now led to new equations, with BJP and JDS warming up to each other. Though both parties have always been projected as fixtures of opposite ends of the political spectrum after an ugly spat in 2008, a series of overtures indicate a newfound love between the two.
For BJP, Karnataka was the only favourable hunting ground along the Vindhyas, where it formed government on three occasions once as ally and twice on its own, but never with a simple majority. The sound drubbing the party got this time that resulted in a slide to 65 seats from over 120, with 18 Cabinet Ministers sent packing could have prompted the saffron party to solicit the JDS. First, it was a BJP delegation led by former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and R Ashok who visited Deve Gowda’s residence on his birthday, later it was BJP Yuva Morcha National President Tejasvi Surya who visited the JDS supremo as part of Jan Sampark outreach programme. There has been a steady stream of BJP leaders meeting HDD in the past month. Both HDD and HDK have been carefully choosing their words as they attack the Congress state government as well as on its national politics while going soft on the BJP. The JDS, which was invited by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to be part of the anti-BJP alliance, has stayed away from Patna while most third front allies have taken part. This signals another significant change in the party’s political, which indicator that the JDS and BJP have been preparing a common ground to come together.