Amid pre-poll predictions that the JD (S) will emerge as the kingmaker after the election results in Karnataka are announced, the party clarified that it hasn't taken a call on a coalition and will wait for election results.
Refuting the claim of party leader Tanveer Ahmed, state president of JD(S) C. M. Ibrahim claimed that Ahmed is not a party spokesperson and is not even a member of the party.
"He is nothing, he has left us long back. We have not decided anything (on coalition govt), we will wait for the results," Ibrahim was quoted as saying.
In an interview to NDTV, Ahmed said the decision was already taken. "The decision is done. It's taken. We will announce it to the public when it is right time to," he had said.
Ahmed had said no party in the state will be able to form a government without the support of the JD(S). "We could not match the resources of the national parties in terms of money, might, muscle. We were a weak party. But we know we performed enough to be a part of the government" he had told NDTV.
In the last assembly elections in 2018, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats, followed by Congress with 80 seats and JD(S) 37.
With no party getting a clear majority, and as Congress and JD(S) were trying to forge an alliance, B.S. Yediyurappa of the BJP, which was the single largest party, staked a claim and formed the government. However, the government was dissolved within three days ahead of a trust vote, as Yediyurappa was unable to muster the required numbers.
Subsequently, the Congress-JD(S) alliance formed the government with Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister, but the wobbly dispensation collapsed in 14 months, as 17 legislators resigned and came out of the ruling coalition. They defected to the BJP and facilitated the party's return to power.
