Tag Archives: Danish Ali – JD (S)

India’s Chankayas | Meet Danish Ali, Gowdas’ Aide For Long

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI / UTTAR PRADESH :

Ali has joined the BSP, but the Gowdas still look up to him for counsel on important decisions

DanishAliMPOs23mar2019

Last May, a crowd milled around Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H. D. Deve Gowda’s home in Bangalore where the needle—after a nail-biting end to the state elections—had finally come to rest. Gowda, and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy, were the men of the moment. And, a tumultuous week later, the father-son duo were at the centre of a political panoply that set the tone for what’s now the key word in the 2019 election season—alliance.

Therefore, it was with some surprise that many received news of Gowda’s pointsman in Delhi, Kunwar Danish Ali, joining the BSP. Ali, party insiders say, has been one of Gowda’s aides for long. He’d been visible this past year as the JD(S) opened up a hotline with Rahul Gandhi. “The love and affection he gave to me is incomparable. That will continue,” Ali tells Outlook, explaining that his move would enable him to contest elections in home-state UP, something he couldn’t have done on a JD(S) ticket. “It was also his wish that I should enter the Lok Sabha,” says Ali. “Nobody can break my relationship with Gowda and Kumaraswamy.”

Gowda and Mayawati had a pre-poll seat-sharing pact for the 2018 Karnataka elections—Ali, again, was instrumental in making that happen. Among Gowda’s longstanding lieutenants is Y.S.V. Datta, a former party legislator who was for long its spokesman. But, as a party insider put it, “if Gowda wants grassroots information, he’ll go to his old friends in (hometown) Paduvalahippe. And, just as easily seek out experts if he wants advice”.

The Gowda family, despite its internal power wrangles, is closely-knit, observers say. While Kumaraswamy is the party’s face, his elder brother Revanna manages the family’s pocketborough of Hassan. Besides, there are siblings and their spouses with varied professional backgrounds (former bureaucrat, surgeon etc) who stay away from the limelight.

Kumaraswamy’s inner circle comprised a clutch of five-six former party legislators, including Zameer Ahmed Khan, Chaluvarayaswamy, and H.C. Balkrishna. It was a coterie that had stood by him in 2006 when he had made a dramatic bid to seize power and become Karnataka CM, defying his father. But that circle had fallen out. “The situation was different. Now, it’s him and Gowdaji,” says a party leader. These days, for political decisions, Kumaraswamy relies on two-three cabinet ministers. On occasion, Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar too advises him.

source:  http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> Magazine> National / by Ajay Sukumaran / March 21st, 2019

Danish Ali’s moment in the sun

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, , , , ,

Hapur, UTTAR PRADESH / NEW DELHI / KARNATAKA :

Key player: JD(S) leader Danish Ali (left) with party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.
Key player: JD(S) leader Danish Ali (left) with party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda.

Gowda loyalist and JD(S) stalwart piloted alliance with Congress

The speed with which the Congress-Janata Dal(S) alliance came about on the afternoon of May 15 was a matter of much surprise to those who knew the strained relations between the two parties. That the alliance was stitched up, publicly announced and on the road to Raj Bhavan far ahead of the BJP’s move, was the product of three days of intense backroom talks between the two parties.

While the role of Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad is now well-known, the part played by JD(S)’ secretary general Kunwar Danish Ali remained unknown until he made it to all the photo-ops of Karnataka Chief Minister-designate H.D. Kumaraswamy with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

According to sources, it was a midnight call between Mr. Azad and Mr. Ali on May 13, two days before the results were out, that set the ball rolling.

“It was clear to the JD(S) that talk of a secret deal with the BJP during the campaign had resulted in a desertion by minorities. The Congress, too, anticipated a less than stellar performance,” said a source. Mr. Ali was instrumental in speaking to both former prime minister Deve Gowda and Mr. Kumaraswamy about Mr. Azad’s call, but only on the night of May 14.

“Mr. Deve Gowda just told him to speak to Mr. Kumaraswamy, while the latter was a bit apprehensive after the bitter campaign by the Congress,” said a source. Mr. Deve Gowda was for a wait and watch approach, sources said, but Mr. Kumaraswamy, once convinced by Mr. Ali, issued a public statement sealing the alliance.

“He was convinced that this alliance would have far-reaching consequences for the 2019 polls too,” said a source.

Mr. Ali, 54, had also sewn up the party’s alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) before the polls, with the BSP contesting in 20 seats and winning one, a historic first for them.

He entered politics as the national president of the Janata Dal student wing in 1994, as a student in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University, and has stuck with the Gowdas through thick and thin. He came to the attention of the former prime minister especially during the 1994 Assembly polls in Karnataka when he was speaking at a rally in Ramanagara.

In his more than quarter of a century with the Janata Dal(S) and its earlier avatar, Mr. Ali has contested one Assembly poll from Garhmukhteswar in Uttar Pradesh, the State he hails from. Apart from his grand uncle, Kunwar Mahmood Ali, who owed allegiance to the Indian National Lok Dal under late prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, and was Governor of Madhya Pradesh between 1992-93, no one else from his family is in politics.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Nistula Hebbar / New Delhi – May 23rd, 2018