Amit Shah chairs core committee meet of JDS, BJP leaders

Union home minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired a core committee meeting with heavyweights of both the BJP and JDS in what is being seen as an attempt to soothe any lingering conflicts within the alliance on the brink of the general elections.

The meeting held today is also being seen as a move to have better coordination on the ground between the alliance partners in the state.

JDS leader and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and some of his party's core committee members, including its chief G T Devegowda, veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, saffron party state president B Y Vijayendra and its general secretary in-charge of elections in Karnataka Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, along with several other leaders from the two parties were part of the meeting.


JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy said the meeting with Shah had "instilled a new spirit in party workers," even as he requested both the parties to support his election campaign from the contentious Mandya Lok Sabha seat. Mandya's independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh had supported the BJP after her 2019 Lok Sabha win and had defeated Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil. Denied a party ticket this time around, Sumalatha has said that she would announce her decision regarding her election on Wednesday.

The meeting on Tuesday came right on the heels of a joint party meet on Friday where former prime minister and JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda had emphasised that past rifts would have to be forgotten, adding, that time was running short and victory was necessary for them in this election.

BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa had been all praises for the alliance as well, calling the BJP and JDS "two children of the same mother."

Rumours of rifts between the two parties have been circulating amidst reports of clashes between the party workers in various constituencies who were unhappy about working with each other.

Last week, a fight broke out between the party workers of the alliance partners during a joint coordination meeting in Tumkur, held in support of alliance candidate V Sommana, with JDS MLA MT Krishnappa holding BJP leader Kondajji Vishwanath responsible for his defeat in the 2019 general elections.

As per the seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP will contest in 25 constituencies and the JDS in the remaining three in the state.