Bengaluru: The Rahul Gandhi-led “Bharat Jodo Yatra” may not bring together the anti-BJP parties politically, but certainly serves as a platform for the former alliance partners to appreciate the Congress’ four-month-long outreach exercise emerged from.
The yatra, which started on September 7 from Kanyakumari, will end on January 30 in Srinagar, 3,500 km away.
Gandhi has invited heads of 21 parties, including former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda, to celebrate the end of the march.
While he would not be able to attend the Srinagar closing meeting, Deve Gowda thanked Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for inviting him, and expressed his “deep appreciation” for the visit in which Gandhi covered “the length of the country for harmony”. .
He further wrote in the letter to Kharge, ‘I may not be able to attend the function in person, but my best wishes are with Shri Rahul Gandhi. He is fighting hatred and violence and has walked 3500 kms from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to spread the message of harmony among the people.
The JD(S) and the Congress are arch-rivals in Karnataka, especially in the Vokkaliga belt of Old Mysore, despite at least two state-level alliances, which further soured their ties.
The two parties had joined hands for the last time after a fractured verdict in the 2018 polls, but this beleaguered alliance saw its downfall in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls after at least 17 MLAs defected to the BJP.
However, old school politicians in Karnataka are known for their relationships beyond party ideologies. Gowda, SM Krishna, Kharge, BS Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah, among others, have personal equations that cut across party lines.
In the volatile political climate of Karnataka, coalition building is a key quality of such senior leaders.
Gowda-led JD(S) Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly Telangana Rashtra Samithi), which aims to form a federal front of all regional parties as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress. ,
In turn, KCR is helping the JD(S) garner support in the north-eastern districts of Karnataka, which have a sizeable Telugu-speaking population.
Incidentally, Deve Gowda’s sons HD Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna have recently criticized the Congress at a JD(S) rally organized to campaign for the impending state elections.
On Monday, Kumaraswamy also challenged the Congress to a debate on who is the “B team” of the BJP.
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