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JD(S) joins TRS meet, backs renaming move
This is not the first time that the JD(S) has joined hands with Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR)-led TRS.
The Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) on Wednesday took part in the general body meeting of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in which it was unanimously decided to rename the political outfit as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) as it plans to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and “stop its juggernaut” in the upcoming elections.
The JD(S) was represented by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, former minister HD Revanna, Maddur MLA DC Thamanna and others from the regional outfit headed by former PM HD Deve Gowda.
This is not the first time that the JD(S) has joined hands with Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR)-led TRS. The two regional parties had come together to defeat the BJP and Congress before the 2018 assembly elections.
“I was present at the meeting where Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao announced the party as a national outfit under the name, Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS). KCR wished him all the best on the occasion,” Kumaraswamy said on Twitter.
“The TRS conducted its general body meeting at its party headquarters in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The meeting unanimously resolved to change the name of the party,” KCR said.
“Necessary amendments to the party constitution were made in the same meeting. The resolution and the amended party constitution were also submitted,” KCR said.
The JD(S) is part of the TRS’ plans to make a pan-India bid to form a non-BJP and non-Congress government at Centre.
The JD(S), whose cadre and legislators are under threat of being poached by either of the two national parties, is trying to revive the outfit to fight the upcoming polls and give it bargaining power if there is no clear majority.
Srinivas Gowda and Gubbi Srinivas, two legislators from JD(S) were expelled from the party for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka in August.
GT Deve Gowda, who beat the then sitting CM Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari, has expressed his desire to leave the JD(S), dealing a heavy blow to the Deve Gowda-led party.
In 2018, Kumaraswamy became the CM by winning less than 40 of total 224 seats after the Congress stitched up an alliance to keep the BJP at bay.
“The TRS and KCR have some influence in Hyderabad-Karnataka (Kalayana-Karmataka), especially at Raichuru, Yadgir, Kalaburagi, Koppala and other places. In regions like Kolara and Chikkaballapura, Telegu-speakers look up to KCR,” TA Sharavana, JD(S) MLC and spokesperson for the party said.
The TRS also commands good support from minority communities and these votes can be at risk as the Congress did not backed the communities on the Hijab row and other issues.
There are only seven Muslim legislators in the 224-seater Karnataka legislative assembly. This constitutes just 3.12% people from a community which forms over 13% of the state’s 70-million population. This is lowest Muslim representation in Karnataka in over a decade as it stood at nine representatives in 2008 and 11 in 2013, HT reported.
In the recent years, Muslim leaders Roshan Baig and CM Ibrahim have left the Congress and that can benefit parties like JD(S) in areas where the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) does not have a large presence, people aware of the developments said.
