The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Janata Dal-Secular party have announced their alliance before the polls in Karnataka. They will now be contesting in the assembly elections together in 2018. BSP will be contesting 20 seats from 14 districts with the back-up of the JD(S).
The new pre-poll alliance
The alliance was announced on 8th February at New Delhi. In a press conference, the leaders of the two parties, Chandra Mishra of BSP and Danish Ali of JD(S) the announcement was made. This new tie-up is said to change the results in the polls. It also comes as a threat to the Congress. The anti-BJP votes will now be divided, as the Dalits form a very large chunk of the Karnataka votes. Together they would actually put up a strong front against BJP and Congress who have dominated the elections so far. The Dalits form a large part of the voter body and have been the main reason for Congress’ AHINDA campaign.
In the 2013 polls, JD(S) won 40 seats, and BSP contested 175 but didn’t secure any. Among the districts that BSP will be contesting are, Chamraj Nagara, Gundlupete and Kollegala, Anekal, Nippani, Chikkodi-Sadalaga and Raibag Honnali, Bidar-North, Chittapur, Kalaburgi-rural, Vijayanagara, Bagalkota city, Karkala, Hubbali-Dharwad, Byadagi, Shirahatti, Gadag, Babaleshwara and Sullya.
Danish Ali called the alliance, ‘pathbreaking’. But, neither of the parties in the past have been able to make a big dent in Congress and BJP’s voter base. This is the first time the two parties have come together. The joint campaign between the parties will be launched under their national leaders, H.D. Gowda and Mayawati on 17th February. Mayawati will attend JD(S) convention in Bengaluru on 17th of this month as part of the campaign.
This move could potentially be a big blow to Congress’ votes in the upcoming elections. If history is to be taken into consideration, neither of the parties have been able to make a real impact on Karnataka politics. But, that was when they contested separately. There may even be chances of this coalition to continue into the 2019 elections.