HD Deve Gowda sacks aide who opposed JD(S) alliance with BJP

Bengaluru, October 19

Janata Dal (Secular) patriarch HD Deve Gowda on Thursday removed the party’s Karnataka unit president and his close aide CM Ibrahim, days after the latter raised a banner of revolt against the party’s decision to forge an alliance with the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Gowda dissolved the state working committee and appointed his son and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy as its ad hoc president.

Ibrahim reacted sharply to his sacking and warned of mounting a legal challenge against it, besides asserting he would reach out to the people.

Upset with the removal, he termed Gowda’s decision as “Vinasha Kaale Vipareeta Buddhi” (As the doom approaches, one’s intelligence functions perversely).

Addressing a press conference here, Gowda said, “Ibrahim has been removed as per the party constitution. I have removed him, and new president HD Kumaraswamy has been appointed.”

Kumaraswamy, a two-time CM of the state, is also the party’s legislative unit president.

Gowda’s action came after Ibrahim revolted against the party’s decision to strike an electoral pact with the BJP.

He had held a meeting with “like-minded” people of the JD(S) on October 16 and announced that the ‘party’ led by him was the original one. He also announced the formation of a core committee that would submit a memorandum to the party supremo that the JD(S) should not go with the BJP.