President poll: HD Deve Gowda to back secular front, isolate rebels

Bengaluru: The unequivocal support of the Janata Dal (Secular) for the non-NDA candidate in the Presidential elections due in July appears to be part of its long term strategy to bolster its poll prospects in the 2018 assembly elections in Karnataka.

“The fact that Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has already pledged his support to the UPA candidate in the Presidential polls when he could have taken a call on it sometime in June, shows this is a strategic move.

He will pull out many more such tricks from his bag to support the secular alliance at the national level till the assembly elections are held in the state and then will try to extract his pound of flesh” said a senior party leader, pointing out that when it was payback time, JD(S) support for the non-NDA forces,  could help it in the event of a hung assembly in the state.

Also, it could arrive at a tacit understanding with the Congress  in a few constituencies to ensure the victory of its candidates before the polls and even use the goodwill earned to make sure that the rebels, who left the JD(S), did not succeed in joining the Congress or get tickets to contest the elections, he noted.  

While state Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Kumaraswamy has in the past said that in the event of a hung assembly he  would prefer fresh elections to helping any party form the government, sources say if such a situation were to arise  post the election he could take a call on going with one of the two national parties rather than opting for another poll.