Muslim Leaders Quit JD(S) Over Alliance With BJP-led NDA

A day after JD(S) joined the BJP-led NDA ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, senior Muslim leaders including Syed Shafiullah, the party's senior state vice-president, resigned from all party positions.

 As the BJP attempts to recalibrate its electoral strategy in different states in the run-up to both the upcoming Assembly polls in five States and the next general election, the JD(S) that is headed by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda said it has officially joined the NDA and asserted it has partnered with the saffron party to take on the Congress in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls.

Senior State Vice President of JDS, Syed Shafiulla resigned from the party after the JDS decided to have an alliance with BJP. In a letter, he said, "I would like to state that I have worked hard and served the party in order to serve the Society and the Community only because our party was believing and was standing on the secular credentials, except when our leader Sri, Kumara Swamy had earlier joined hands with the BJP to form the Goverment in the state, I also like to mention that, I had opted to stay outside the party for the period during which our State unit of the party had joined with the BJP to form the State Government. "

JD(S) had earlier formed governments in coalition with both the BJP and Congress separately -- for 20 months from January 2006, and for 14 months from May 2018, respectively, with Kumaraswamy as chief minister. 

"Since the party's senior leaders are now deciding to join hands with the BJP, I have been left with no option but to tender my resignation to the party's Senior Vice President Office of the State and also to my Primary Membership of the Party," Shafiulla said in a letter. 

According to a report by Deccan Herald, along with Shafiulla, former minister N M Nabi, ormer New Delhi representative Mohid Altaf, youth wing president NM Noor and former minority wing chief Nasir Hussain Ustad are leaving the regional party.