Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda Wednesday sought to quash speculation of a rift within the BJP–JD(S) alliance, saying the denial of a Rajya Sabha renomination would not affect his personal relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Deve Gowda’s remarks responded to Congress’s criticism of the BJP’s denial of a nomination. The BJP overlooked the 93-year-old Deve Gowda’s candidature for the Rajya Sabha and opted for a little-known leader, M Nagaraja, a professor from the Kuruba community.

“The people of the country must not think that my relation with PM Modi has soured over one Rajya Sabha seat,” the former PM said at a press briefing.

“I have a good relationship with Prime Minister Modi. If anyone thinks that a Rajya Sabha seat will spoil such a good relationship, it is their foolishness. It is true that I once harshly criticised Modi. But over the past many years, I have come to understand him a lot. I have confidence in him. I have appreciated his good work,” Deve Gowda said.

“No leader can rise to his level. The relationship I have with him is personal. I do not want to lose it for political reasons. Whether I am in Parliament or not, my relationship with Modi will not be affected. Our relationship will remain like this till the end,” the former PM said.

Deve Gowda’s tenure in Rajya Sabha, which will draw to a close on June 25, was facilitated by the Congress in 2020 after Gowda lost the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, and soon after, a Congress-JD(S) alliance government collapsed in Karnataka.

Subsequently, in 2024, the Janata Dal (Secular) forged an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Lok Sabha polls following an agreement between PM Modi and Deve Gowda.

The BJP’s rejection of a renomination for Deve Gowda to Rajya Sabha, despite his close ties with PM Modi, has been criticised by the Congress party, which also targeted Gowda’s son and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

“After a long political career of 70 years, I have no desire to become a Rajya Sabha member. I would like to say with utmost humility that in my long political career, public service was more important than power,” Deve Gowda said Wednesday.

“Some people are talking about me with concern. They are expressing pain that it has been a great insult. It was only media speculation that my name would be considered; I never demanded a Rajya Sabha seat. Kumaraswamy, who is the state president of our party, clearly said this,” he said.

“If I had any interest in contesting the Rajya Sabha, I would have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah when I went to New Delhi for a book launch event on May 26. I did not discuss this with anyone. I returned to Bengaluru immediately after the event,” he added.

“Today, the Congress leaders who are putting up a pity drama on my behalf should know how they have behaved in my case in the past. If we talk about this, we can say a lot. I am not interested in it,” he said.

Rise of Shivakumar and JD(S) poll maths

The rise of Congress leader D K Shivakumar, who also belongs to the Vokkaliga community like Deve Gowda, to the position of the chief minister of Karnataka on June 3, is seen as a political setback for the JD(S) and an existential threat.

One of the JD(S) ‘s chief concerns is the increasing loss of vote share in the Old Mysore Region, which encompasses the Vokkaliga heartland districts like Mandya and Ramanagara, to the Congress and the BJP due to the JD(S) alliance with the BJP.

While the party’s alliance with the BJP has cost it Muslim votes, Shivakumar’s rise to the CM’s post is expected to cut deeper into the JD(S)’s core vote base.

The JD(S) suffered its worst-ever defeat since being in power in the 1994-1999 period in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections. The party managed to win only 19 of the 224 seats, with its vote share dipping from 18 per cent in 2018 to 13 per cent in 2023.

“Our future depends on some of the decisions that will be taken by the Congress party. Siddaramaiah becoming CM is an advantage for us because we can consolidate the Vokkaliga votes,” a JD(S) worker said after the 2023 poll loss for the party. “If DKS becomes CM, then we lose our base,” the worker said.

Ahead of the Congress decision to make Shivakumar the CM last month, the JD(S) had been mulling going solo in Karnataka in the run-up to the 2028 Karnataka Assembly polls to provide voters with an alternative to the Congress and BJP.

Kumaraswamy was rumoured to be considering a return to Karnataka politics to strengthen the JD(S) and take up issues against the Congress Government and the then-CM Siddaramaiah.

The Congress decision to make Shivakumar the CM has stalled the move for the time being, and the JD(S)-BJP may fight state polls unitedly while facing local-level polls separately.

The BJP’s move to nominate Nagaraja for the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka, rather than Deve Gowda, is seen as an effort to appeal to the Kuruba community. This comes after the community was reportedly upset over the Congress’s decision to replace Siddaramaiah, a member of the Kuruba community, with Shivakumar, who belongs to the dominant Vokkaliga community.

Of the four vacancies arising in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, the Congress is well placed to fill three seats with its 136 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly, and the BJP can fill one seat with its 65 MLAs.