BJP’s Hindutva is dividing society; will never join hands with it: HDK

Even as Janata Dal (Secular) is trying to woo Muslims in poll-bound Karnataka, its state president H D Kumaraswamy, who had once formed a coalition government with the BJP, has declared that he would not join hands with the saffron party in future.

Replaying to queries of media persons in Bengaluru, the former chief minister said that his party would opt for a “democratic and secular party which respects the Constitution” if compelled to form a coalition post the 2018 Assembly polls in Karnataka.

While not directly naming Congress as the party that he would choose over the BJP, he said in an interview with The Hindu that the saffron party’s “aggressive Hindutva agenda was dividing society, which is essentially its character.”

It could be recalled here that Mr Kumaraswamy has stated earlier this year that the biggest enemy of JD(S) was Congress and not BJP.

However, on Sunday Mr Kumaraswamy said that there is an undeclared emergency in the country. “If the democratic and secular forces fail to counter the juggernaut of communal, anti-democratic forces, no one can save this country. That is why there is no question of joining hands with the BJP under any circumstances,” he added.