Key Points
Bengaluru:The Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), has refused to join its ally, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in a padayatra to intensify protests against the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka, indicating early signs of fissures between the coalition partners...
Their refusal also shows an unwillingness to overlook earlier rivalries with some BJP leaders...
The JD(S) state presidents objections are mainly directed towards Preetham Gowda, the former BJP MLA from Hassan, who allegedly distributed the pen drives containing obscene videos of alleged rape and assault by Kumaraswamys nephew and Deve Gowdas grandson, Prajwal Revanna...
Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda met Prime Minister Modi Tuesday and the father-son duo continue to hold all alliance-level talks at the central level and have kept their distance from the state leaders of the BJP, adding to the rift...
The BJP needs the JD(S) to penetrate into southern Karnataka where it has little or no presence and the latter needs the Modi-led party to survive the onslaught by the Congress in its strongholds where it has seen its strength decline in recent elections...
