Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (United), the two NDA partners once again came into confrontation with each other over the issue of seat sharing for the Karnataka assembly polls holding on next month.
The NDA coalition partner JD (U) accused BJP for not holding pre-announcement discussion while issuing its first list of candidates for the three-phased elections in May.
Sharad Yadav, the chief of the JD (U) alleged on Friday that BJP had violated coalition dharma by not consulting his party before and unilaterally announcing its first list of candidates. He said that such action raise question on the continuation of the coalition commitment. It was the responsibility of the bigger parties to maintain coalition.
On the contrary, BJP neglected the charge made upon the party by the JD (U) and clarified that it had only announced the candidates’ name for its own sure seats and doors are open for its NDA ally JD (U) for accommodation in Karnataka. The Party’s general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Arun Jaitley said the charge was baseless. In fact the accommodation of JD (U) as its coalition partners was still being worked out, he added.
"We believe coalition relations cannot be discussed via the media. What we announced on Thursday were the sure seats of our own and alliance with JD (U) is still being discussed between leaders," Jaitley said.
However, the party sources in BJP said that JD (U) must realise that Bharatiya Janata Party is strong and is its senior partner in Karnataka. So, there is no question of distribution of seats on equal numbers.
Meanwhile, the Bihar unit of BJP has its own reason of justification. The Bihar unit have frequently complained to the national leadership for being sided into a corner by the JD (U) in the state by stating that if he did not obeyed the coalition dharma how could he plead for that being violated in Karnataka.
Arun Jaitley too reminded Yadav the period of November 2005 Bihar assembly election when he had declared its own sure seats in the state prior to consulting BJP.
The party chief Sharad Yadav said JD (U) parliamentary party meeting will be held on April 15 and a day later the national executive will hold on discussion for the future course of action.
Both the BJP and JD-U as a NDA alliance had jointly contested the 1999 and 2004 Karnataka assembly polls. The BJP considering its strong position and confident of getting good mandate this time has put up candidates in seats, where the JD-U wanted to raise its members.
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