CM Ibrahim takes charge as K’taka JD(S) chief

Ibrahim quit the Congress in early March after he was denied the post of opposition leader in the upper house of the state legislature.

Former union minister CM Ibrahim on Sunday took over as the state president of the Janata Dal (Secular) as the regional outfit in Karnataka continued its new strategy to tap into the minority vote by edging out the Congress.

Former MLC CM Ibrahim assumes the charge as the Karnataka JD (S) president in the presence of party's national president H D Deve Gowda, former state chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, in Bengaluru on Sunday. (ANI Photo)

Ibrahim quit the Congress in early March after he was denied the post of opposition leader in the upper house of the state legislature, making his way back to former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda under whom he served as union minister for civil aviation, information & broadcasting and tourism from June 1996. Ibrahim also served as a union minister under IK Gujral till April 1998.

“When a Bajarang Dal worker (Harsha Jingade) dies, you (government) pay ₹25 lakh but when Santosh Patil dies because of the torture of KS Eshwarappa, he gets not compensation,” Ibrahim said soon after taking over his new role.

Eshwarappa resigned as Karnataka rural development and panchayat raj minister after police booked a case against him for abetting the suicide of contractor Santosh Patil.

Ibrahim said, “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is playing with emotions to consolidate the Hindu vote bank while the Congress has no vote nor a bank.”

The senior minority leader’s induction as JD(S) party president lends to the strategy of the regional outfit taking strides to help secure the votes of Muslims in the state and especially in the Old Mysuru region to help it increase its tally and edge out the Congress from these parts, HT reported on Friday.

The consistent stand by the JD(S) and its senior leadership against right-wing groups and their systematic targeting of Muslims in Karnataka is likely to benefit the party in the upcoming elections as it looks to cash in on the distance maintained by the Congress towards its key support base.

Having relied heavily only on Vokkaligas, a dominant and politically influential community found in large numbers across the Old Mysuru region, the JD(S) is now trying to diversify its outreach before the 2023 assembly elections so as to retain its position as a “king maker” if another fractured verdict is delivered.

The BJP is believed to have the support of the Lingayats while the JD(S) has seen the Vokkaligas consolidate behind the party in recent elections. The Congress depends on votes from minorities, a section of the backward classes and Dalits, among other groups.

However, the Congress maintained a stoic silence when the hijab row broke in Udupi in early January -- the party took almost a month to react -- risking how it will be viewed by one of its biggest support bases.

The Congress has, for some time now, been accused of practising “soft-Hindutva” in the hope not to distance itself from any attempts of consolidation of Hindus by the BJP across the country.

Ibrahim said he will try to revive the old socialists and Lohiaites to help rebuild the base of the JD(S) before the elections.