‘Dosti’ over: Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka is over

Bengaluru, Aug 04: The 'dosti' has ended and the Janata Dal (Secular) has said that it would contest the by-elections in Karnataka on its own.

Both the JD(S) and Congress which had come together to form the government have decided that the 17 seats would be contested independently. The by-polls were necessitated due to the resignations of the MLAs of both parties, who were later on disqualified by the Speaker. The matter is currently under challenge before the Supreme Court of India.

Even as JD(S) leader and former chief minister of Karnataka, H D Kumaraswamy addressed party workers in Mandya district, there were loud protests to call off the alliance. He went on to say that it was stiff resistance from within the party that forced him to take a decision to field his party nominees in all these assembly constituencies.

This means that the alliance has ended in Karnataka. Both parties came together to form the government in 2018 after no party was able to get a majority. The two even fought the Lok Sabha elections together, but ended up being drubbed by the BJP.

The party workers were never on the same page and the results in Mysore and Mandya is proof of that. Psephologists have said that the Congress and JD(S) were never able to transfer the alliance chemistry on the ground and this led to the debacle of the alliance.