New Delhi: After Janata Dal (Secular) leaders from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra quit the party over the leadership’s decision to have a pact with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the president of the party’s Karnataka unit, C.M. Ibrahim, said that he will not allow the party to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).Ibrahim said that his is the original faction of the party, which is “secular”. He said he has the power, as the state president, to take a call on the direction of the party.On September 22, the second-in-command of the JD(S), Kumaraswamy, met with Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP President J.P. Nadda in Delhi and formalised the alliance. Since then, JD(S) party units in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra conveyed their displeasure over joining hands with the BJP, and some of the leaders even quit.While the JD(S) presence outside Karnataka is limited, the latest statement by the Karnataka party unit president assumes significance given that it is the party’s home turf. Ibrahim’s divergent views to that of the leadership indicate a possible split in the party.“Our first decision is that the JD(S) will not go with the NDA. The second decision was a request to Deve Gowda that he should not give his consent to this alliance,” Ibrahim told reporters after a meeting with some party leaders in Bengaluru on Monday, October 16, according to PTI.“In Karnataka, however, we still have affection for you. You are a father figure. We will tell him (Gowda) that we should not have any relation with the BJP,” Ibrahim said, adding that he would be forming a core committee, which will meet Deve Gowda and convey the decision taken at the meeting.When asked specifically if Gowda and Kumaraswamy do not agree with his views, he said, “I am the state president. I have to decide about my party in the state, which I will take. Already we have decided that we will not go with the BJP. What else is there more than this?”Continuing further, he said, “If Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy have decided to go with the BJP then let them go”, he said. “We are asking them (Gowda and Kumaraswamy) not to go. If they go then we cannot bind them. Regarding (JD-S) MLAs, please wait and see who, how many, and where these MLAs will take a decision. We will intimate you when the time comes,” the JD(S) state president said.Ibrahim claimed that several party MLAs are in touch with him and he would soon hold one-on-one meetings with them. He declined to spell out the names of MLAs whom he claimed to be in touch with, adding that it would exert pressure on them.