Abbreviation JD(S) President H. D. Deve Gowda Founder H. D. Deve Gowda Political position Centre-left politics | Preceded by Janata Dal Youth wing Yuva Janata Dal Labour wing Karmikara Janata Dal Leader H. D. Deve Gowda Founded July 1999 | |
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Headquarters 5, Safdarjung Lane, New Delhi 110003 Ideology Social democracy, Secularism | ||
The Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)): (Kannada: ಜನತಾ ದಳ (ಜಾತ್ಯಾತೀತ)) is an Indian political party led by former Prime Minister of India, H. D. Deve Gowda. The party is recognized as a state party in the states of Karnataka and Kerala. It was formed in July 1999 by the split of Janata Dal party. It has a political presence mainly in Karnataka. In Kerala, the party is part of the Left Democratic Front.
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Jd s leader slaps women worker in party meet
History
The Janata Dal (Secular), formed in 1999, had its origins in the Janata Party, founded in 1977 as a coalition of several smaller parties that combined forces to oppose the Indian National Congress. In 1988 the Janata Party and other smaller parties merged to form the Janata Dal (JD). In 1996, Janata Dal party reached its pinnacle when H. D. Deve Gowda became Prime Minister of India, heading the United Front (UF) coalition government.
The Janata Dal split in 1999, when a faction led by Chief Minister J. H. Patel lent support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance leading to the formation of Janata Dal (Secular) under H. D. Deve Gowda. The Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal, the Lok Shakti and the Samata Party merged as the Janata Dal (United). Even though the premise for the split was its opposition to allying with the National Democratic Alliance, H.D. Deve Gowda stayed equally away from the Indian National Congress from the outset.
JD(S) in Karnataka state for a time governed in a coalition with the Indian National Congress (INC) party, the first coalition government in Karnataka. There was much controversy over the JD(S) allying with the INC in Bangalore as the INC formerly had an outright majority and was diminished to second place with the BJP having a plurality. However, the JD(S) considered INC to be the lesser of the two evils on account of its erstwhile secular and center left credentials.
The 2004 elections in Karnataka witnessed the revival of the party's fortunes with JD(S) becoming part of the ruling coalition in the state. Subsequently, party leader H. D. Kumaraswamy headed a popular coalition government in the state for 20 months with support from the BJP.
In the 2014 general election, the JD-S gave support to the Social Democratic Party of India in Dakshin Kannada.
On 14 April 2015, the JD(S), Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Indian National Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) announced that they would merge into a new national Janata Parivar alliance in order to oppose the BJP, thus leaving the UPA.