Bengaluru: The BJP and JD(S) have decided to jointly contest the upcoming elections to four Karnataka Legislative Council seats from teachers' and graduates' constituencies, state BJP president B Y Vijayendra said on Saturday.
He said the two parties also discussed effectively countering the Congress government together and bringing an NDA government to power in Karnataka.
Vijayendra was speaking to reporters here after a meeting between BJP and JD(S) leaders. He said a special meeting was convened to discuss the strategy for the Legislative Council elections.
Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi, H D Kumaraswamy, Shobha Karandlaje, Leaders of Opposition in both legislative Assembly and Council R Ashoka and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, along with senior leaders, district presidents and other key functionaries of both parties, attended the meeting.
"It has been decided that the BJP and JD(S) should contest the elections together in all four constituencies. We have to win all four seats and work together towards that goal," Vijayendra said.
He added that the responsibilities have been assigned to party leaders for each constituency.
Vijayendra alleged that Congress legislators themselves were losing faith in Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and claimed that the CM was unable to exercise control over the administration.
"Congress MLAs themselves are losing faith in the Chief Minister. The CM is unable to get a grip over the administration," he said.
The election to four seats in Karnataka Legislative Council that will fall vacant in November will be held on October 23, 2026, and results will be declared on October 27.
Polling is being held for four Karnataka Legislative Council constituencies — South East Graduates’, West Graduates’, North East Teachers’ and Bangalore Teachers’ seats.
The BJP has nominated K M Suresh for South East Graduates’ constituency, S V Sankanur for West Graduates seat and Shashil G Namoshi for North East Teachers’ constituency.
The BJP’s NDA ally JD(S) will be contesting in the Bangalore Teachers’ constituency and has announced A P Ranganath as its candidate against Congress’s sitting member Puttanna.
The Congress has named former MLC Mohan Limbikai (West Graduates’), former MLC Sharanappa Mathur (North East Teachers’) and Shashi Hulikuntemutt (South East Graduates’).
Currently, in the 75-member house, five seats that are to be nominated by the government are vacant while the tenure of members of the four constituencies will come to an end on November 11.
The Congress currently has a majority with 38 members, while the opposition BJP and JD (S) have 24 and six members respectively. One seat is represented by an Independent, other than the Chairman.
Vijayendra alleged that the state government was limited to making announcements and claimed this was evident from a letter issued by the Finance Department recently.
"There is no money in the treasury. The Congress government led by Shivakumar is limited only to announcements," he alleged.
Vijayendra said the BJP and JD(S) had also discussed jointly taking up political programmes and protests in the coming days and deliberated on how to bring their alliance to power in the state.