BRS to back JD (Secular) in K'taka Assembly polls

Hyderabad: Describing the Janata Dal (Secular) as a "natural ally", the Bharat Rashtra Samithi has decided to throw its weight fully behind former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party in the coming Karnataka Assembly elections, BRS sources said on Sunday. Telangana's governing party was earlier weighing its option of fielding its candidates in some districts bordering Telangana in Kalyana-Karnataka (earlier known as Hyderabad-Karnataka) as part of its strategy to expand nationally, but that plan is no longer on the table now.

"JD(S) is our natural ally and we will go with the party. We want to ensure that the JD(S) is successful in the elections", a senior BRS leader said. The sources said BRS party chief K Chandrashekar Rao would definitely campaign for JD(S) candidates, particularly in segments where "Telugu-speaking people are densely populated", as a BRS leader put it. The elections are due in May.

H D Kumaraswamy meets Mamata Banerjee Meanwhile, JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata last week and requested the TMC boss to campaign in the Assembly polls. "Mamata Banerjee has agreed to Kumaraswamy's request to campaign in Karnataka. She has asked him to send her a schedule", a JD(S) leader had said after the meeting in the West Bengal capital. Kumaraswamy had attended the meeting of Opposition parties convened by Banerjee in Kolkata in January 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha poll that year.