H D Kumaraswamy Holds Seat-Sharing Talks With Amit Shah, BJP Chief

Former Karnataka chief minister and JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy Wednesday said he had an important meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda in New Delhi regarding preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Kumaraswamy's son and JDS youth wing state president Nikhil Kumaraswamy, and former MP Kupendra Reddy were also present in the meeting held at Mr Shah's residence.

"The Home Minister and Nadda had a discussion with the JD(S) leaders for more than 45 minutes on state politics, seat sharing, and the issue of alliance," Mr Kumaraswamy said in a statement.

The former chief minister said Shah told him that he would discuss the process of JD(S) officially joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and seat allocation after the completion of the consecration of Rama temple in Ayodhya in the presence of Nadda.

The leaders were unanimous that the NDA should win all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and Narendra Modi should once again become the prime minister, according to the statement.

Mr Shah and Mr Nadda told Kumaraswamy that BJP and JD(S) should take all the decisions to face the election on the basis of trust and faith. Stating that there is a "strong anti-incumbency wave" against the Congress government in Karnataka within a year of it coming to power, Mr Kumaraswamy said they discussed ways to effectively bring the failures of the state government to the attention of the people.

The JD(S) joined the NDA in September last year after a meeting H D Kumaraswamy, former prime minister Deve Gowda's son, had with Home Minister Shah and BJP national president Nadda in New Delhi.

Both parties have said they would fight the coming Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka together.

In the elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly in May last year, the JD(S) put up a poor show, winning only 19 seats. The Congress bagged 135 and the BJP 66.

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