NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday announced alliance with the BJP in Karnataka and formally joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy made the announcement after meeting Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda in the national capital.
Nadda welcomed the JD(S) into the NDA fold. ” I am happy that JD(S) has decided to be the part of National Democratic Alliance. We wholeheartedly welcome them in the NDA. This will further strengthen NDA and vision of Hon PM@narendramodiJi for “New India, Strong India”, ” the BJP chief posted on X.
The talks about a possible alliance was doing the rounds ever since the Congress trounced both the parties in the Karnataka assembly elections earlier this year. While the Congress won 135 seats, the BJP could manage only 66 and the JD(S) 19. The JD(S) suffered a huge blow as it’s tally was reduced by almost half and the party also lost considerable vote share.