Four newly-elected JD(S) councilors, who hold the keys to the Kalaburagi Municipal Council amid a hung verdict, and both BJP And the Congress, vying for power, has now taken refuge in Bengaluru for fear of being victimized by both parties by party leaders.
JD(S) councilors Alimuddin Patil, Vishal Navrang, Sajid Kalyani and Vijayalakshmi R reached Bengaluru on 8 September. He is seen at a farmhouse outside Bengaluru, where former CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy lives. JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda.
The JD(S), which won only four seats in the 55-seat council as compared to the Congress’s 27 and the BJP’s 23, is in a tough bargain to gain political ground given its weak political and economic condition in the state. After the fall of his coalition government with Congress in 2019.
The BJP has indicated that it will try all available strategies to gain control of the Kalaburagi Municipal Council. BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, who visited Kalaburagi and held a meeting with party leaders, said the BJP would “use all strategies to come to power” in the Kalaburagi Municipal Council.
Kumaraswamy met CM Basavaraj Bommai after the election results were declared on Monday.
One seat in the 55-member council was won by an independent. The magic number for taking control of the council is 32. The Parishad, which has a large minority of voters, has traditionally been a Congress stronghold and the BJP now has its first opportunity to take control.
The Congress – a section of which views the JD(S) as an ideological ally – is hoping that the JD(S) will be influenced by the common goal of keeping “communal politics” at bay. Former PM and JD(S) national president Deve Gowda said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is from Kalaburgi, had spoken to him.
With three MLCs, two MLAs and a Lok Sabha MP, the BJP has 29 votes in the council and is at a standstill with the Congress, which has one MLA and one Rajya Sabha member. With the lone independent winner being a BJP rebel, the BJP is widely expected to garner the Independent vote.
This leaves four JD(S) councilors in the position to be the kingmakers, with the BJP best positioned to come to power by winning at least two JD(S) councilors to reach 32 votes.
One of the key political conditions that the JD(S) has put in place at present is that a JD(S) councilor should get the first chance to be the mayor of Kalaburgi and the party should get at least two chances to be the mayor. . The term of the council is five years. The post of mayor in Kalaburagi is currently reserved for a woman candidate and the JD(S) has a woman councilor in Vijayalakshmi R.
“We will decide everything after the announcement of the dates for the election of the mayor and deputy mayor. My priority is to win two assembly seats in Gulbarga by winning the civic polls.
Local JD(S) leaders in Kalaburagi have said that the position of the mayor is crucial for deciding the alliance. “The key to the alliance is that it should be for five years and the JD(S) should have a major role. It should have a JD(S) mayor at least in the first term,” said Nasir Hussain Ustad, a local JD(S) leader. He said that the Congress has not been able to develop the city and had earlier given the post of mayor to a party which had won only one seat in the city council.
The JD(S) is also concerned that the BJP will try to gain control – splitting the support of its four councillors – two of whom are Hindus and two Muslims.
The BJP is confident that the JD(S) will eventually change its course due to compulsions. A BJP minister said, “Though former CM D Kumaraswamy has not given any assurance on the alliance, we are sure that he will support us unconditionally.”
Earlier this week, Deve Gowda had said that Kumaraswamy would have to take a decision in consultation with JD(S) councillors.
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