Not Cong or BJP, people will decide JD(S) role in polls :H D Kumaraswamy

In the run-up to the Assembly elections, now barely three months away, the Janata Dal (Secular) is engaged in a unique form of social engineering by tying up with various outfits for romping home to power. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Ms Mayawati was the star attraction at a huge rally organised by the party on Saturday.  There are many who think that the JD(S) can at best become kingmaker tagging behind one of the major parties after the polls but party state president H.D. Kumaraswamy, in an interview with Deccan Chronicle, says his party will be king and  not kingmaker.  He took potshots at the BJP and Congress saying people will decide the role the JD(S) will play, not the  Congress or BJP. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Q&A

While the Congress and BJP started their election campaign three months ago, the JD(S) has started a bit late. Will this be advantageous or disadvantageous for the party?
Even we had started in November itself. The difference is that we did not get the required publicity in the media and it was not discussed much. In October, I started election work from Chamundi Hills in Mysuru. Since then, I have covered almost all the districts in North Karnataka, mainly Kalaburgi, Raichur, Yadgir and Vijayapur. In a few places, I have addressed bigger rallies that the ones being organised by the two national parties. I have no regrets that they did not receive publicity, but I am happy at the way people are responding. And with Saturday’s rally, I hope we have created history in Karnataka politics.

You have allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress Party, which have no significant presence in Karnataka. Do you have more allies coming your way? Do you have any hope of getting help from such allies?
Well... Left parties are our natural allies for a long time and we are going to have an alliance with them. Other than that, we don’t plan a  tie-up with any other regional party in India. When it comes to BSP, it has its own base in all 224 constituencies, but in a  small way. In some places, it has three to four per cent of the votes. In some constituencies, it could be 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent. However, this will add to our vote share. It is true that the NCP does not have a presence in Karnataka. However, we know that there are a lot of constituencies in Karnataka where the Marathas have a lot of influence. At the moment, MES and Shiv Sena are creating problems in areas like Belagavi. The NCP is not asking for seats all over Karnataka. They want to contest in Belagavi, in one or two constituencies in Bidar and Vijayapura districts where the Janata Dal (Secular) strength is not upto the mark. However, we can make inroads with the help of Nationalist Congress Party  and counter the MES and Shiv Sena. Apart from this, there are Marathi speaking people, who have settled in all constituencies of Karnataka for a long time. They are here since the pre-independence period. This would be a kind of social engineering to get them to back us. I am practical when it comes to fighting elections. At this moment, we need to increase our vote share to 30-32 per cent. Only then can we win the election and we are into this process without trying to create a rift between communities.

The two national parties feel that at the best, the JD(S) can play the role of kingmaker and can never come to power on its own. Do you agree with this view?
It is the people at large, not the Congress or BJP who decide what we have to be. They will vote us in or out and not these political parties. At the moment, people are disgusted with 10 years of rule by the two national parties in the state. They are looking for change and we are providing them the alternative.

But, the concept of a regional party is not deep rooted in Karnataka like it is in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha or even the North-Eastern states. Don't you feel the social structure is different here?
It used to be, but the polarisation has begun. The local people are not getting what they want. This will be a peculiar election and no one can predict the way it will be fought. Cutting across the social structure, people want to get out of the clutches of national parties.

Even the  Janata Dal (Secular) has internal problems... More than seven MLAs have left and are joining another party?
As I have already said, it is the people who decide who should win. If some people think that they can win the elections with money and the support of national parties, it is up to them to prove it. I don’t want to react to them. The election result will show who was right.