After the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra as well as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu, now the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) is facing a ‘symbol’ crisis. The new splinter faction of the party led by its now-suspended state president CM Ibrahim has asked the Election Commission to recognise it as the “real JD(S)” and will also lay claim to the election symbol, of “a woman farmer carrying paddy”, insiders say.
Ibrahim was unceremoniously thrown out of the party for opposing the BJP-JD(S) alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A day after the announcement was made by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy of aligning with the saffron party, Ibrahim, who had assumed charge just six months ago as Karnataka unit president, vehemently opposed the move.
“We are the real JD(S). In a core committee meeting held by like-minded JD(S) leaders, we have removed Deve Gowda as the national president,” said Ibrahim in an exclusive interview with News18.
Former Karnataka chief minister Kumaraswamy hit out at Ibrahim for raising a banner of revolt within the JD(S) for the decision made by the Gowda family to align with the BJP.
“If Ibrahim thinks his party is original then let him put up a board that he is the original one. Who is there to stop him from doing so? He can do whatever he wants. He is free to do it. It is left completely to him how he wants to proceed,” Kumaraswamy told the media.
Ibrahim also added that the Gowda family tried to convince him to go along with the BJP, but he flatly refused.
“I am very happy that I understood their (Gowdas’) real colour. They wanted to take me along with them to the BJP; when I refused, they got angry. They do not have anybody with them. They rather threaten the MLAs to keep them with them,” said Ibrahim, who was the union minister for civil aviation when Deve Gowda was the prime minister.
Asked whether they will lay claim to the JD(S) symbol just like the Shiv Sena and AIADMK did when both the regional parties saw splinter groups, Ibrahim replied in the affirmative.
“We are approaching the Election Commission to give our group the authority to sign B forms under the new president CK Nanu,” he added, saying that the splinter JD(S) plans to contest the Lok Sabha polls. “We are in talks with Nitish Kumar and the JD(U) to fight the parliamentary elections. As of now, we have five MLAs from the Karnataka JD(S) supporting us and expect 12 more to join us soon…We will definitely seek that (symbol), or else we will request another party symbol to contest the elections.”
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have seen similar situations with influential regional parties Shiv Sena, NCP, and AIADMK seeing themselves split right down the centre.
The Eknath Shinde-led rebel faction claimed to be the “original Shiv Sena” and asked the Election Commission to allot it the party’s “bow and arrow” symbol.
A year later, in February 2023, the EC issued an order stating that the Shinde faction would be able to retain the symbol, while the Uddhav Thackeray camp was allowed to have the party name Shiv Sena (UBT) and a “flaming torch” as its poll symbol.
Also, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP has staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol, and hearing over the dispute is on before the poll body.
A similar power tussle for the election symbol of the AIADMK was seen in 2017 after the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK matriarch J Jayalalithaa. Two factions, one led by Jayalalithaa’s close associate VK Sasikala and another by then trusted lieutenant O Paneerselvam, staked claim to the AIADMK’s “Irattai Ilai” (two leaves) symbol. As the battle reached the courts, the Election Commission froze the two-leaves symbol.
The election to Jayalalitha’s RK Nagar assembly constituency, which fell vacant after her passing, was fought by both factions under two new party names and symbols. The faction led by Panneerselvam was granted an “electric pole” as its election symbol and named AIADMK Puratchi Thalavi Amma. Team Sasikala, which decided to go with the name AIADMK Amma, got a “hat” for its symbol.
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