Three is BJP’s offer, but JD(S) keen on 5: How LS seat-sharing talks are shaping up for new Karnataka allies

In preliminary seat-sharing talks concluded in New Delhi on Thursday, the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular), its new alliance partner in Karnataka for the Lok Sabha polls, have decided to work with “mutual trust and consultation” in the choice of candidates for the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

In the first round of talks held at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday night with JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, the BJP leadership comprising the Home Minister and national president J P Nadda offered the JD(S) three seats, sources in the JD(S) familiar with developments at the meeting indicated on Thursday.

The BJP incidentally won 25 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka while the JD(S) won only Hassan that is the family borough of JD(S) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. The BJP has now offered its ally Hassan and Mandya, which is the epicentre of the dominant Vokkaliga agricultural community that has allied with the party for over four decades, said JD(S) insiders. The Mandya seat was won in 2019 by the Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambarish with the backing of the BJP and Congress. She defeated Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the election.

The BJP has also offered the choice of a third seat from among Kolar, Bengaluru Rural, and Tumkur, said JD(S) sources. All the seats offered by the BJP are in the Vokkaliga belt in southern Karnataka where the party has traditionally fought the Congress as its main rival on account of the BJP lacking a base in the region.

The JD(S) that is keen on contesting around five seats to preserve its political standing in the state has asked the BJP to allot one seat in north Karnataka where the party has a small base in the Hyderabad Karnataka