BENGALURU: Former CM and Mandya MP HD Kumaraswamy reached New Delhi on Friday evening, on his second visit to the capital within a week. He is expected to remain there for the next few days as the NDA leadership prepares for the swearing-in of the new government.
Kumaraswamy participated in the NDA meeting in Central Hall on Thursday. He was joined by JDS leaders Sa Ra Mahesh and other JDS members.
JDS leaders said he should be given a prominent ministry for his role in helping the BJP win almost nine to ten seats in Karnataka. Kumaraswamy’s family — former PM and father HD Deve Gowda, wife Anita, son Nikhil, daughter-in-law Revathi and grandson — is expected to join him in New Delhi.
“The BJP-JDS alliance worked well in southern areas because JDS votes were transferred effortlessly to the BJP. The proof is BJP winning Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Mysuru, Chitradurga, Shivamogga and Udupi-Chikmagalur effortlessly, which is an indication that vote transfer has worked. Otherwise, how could the BJP, which won only seven seats in North Karnataka, win so many in South Karnataka?’’ analysts said.
The BJP-JDS winning leads show that JDS vote transfer took place convincingly. While most Congress leaders won by small margins, many BJP-JDS leaders won with margins of 2 to 3 lakh votes. In Bangalore Rural, Dr CN Manjunath won by 2.69 lakh votes, in Chikkaballapur, Dr K Sudhakar’s victory margin was 1.63 lakh, Shobha Karandlaje won Bangalore North with 2.59 lakh margin, BY Raghavendra won Shivamogga by 2.4 lakh votes, and Yaduveer Wadiyar won Mysore-Kodagu by 1.39 lakh votes.
Two former CMs, Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Bommai, and the party’s blue-eyed boy Pralhad Joshi could also make it to Modi 3.0 ministry.
Asked if Kumaraswamy would lobby for any particular ministry, JDS leaders said, “He would never do that. He trusts the NDA leadership and everyone knows the efforts JDS workers have put in across the state to help the BJP win.”
