The Hindu : Karnataka News : JD(S) firm on contesting bypoll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

JD(S) firm on contesting bypoll

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, SEPT. 21. It was a misconception that the Congress would benefit if the Janata Dal (Secular) did not field a candidate for the byelection to the Lok Sabha from Bidar. "Our voters will never vote for the Congress in our absence. In an extreme situation where they are forced to vote, they may even vote for the BJP but not the Congress," the JD(S) State unit president, N. Thippanna, said here today.

Equidistant

He told presspersons that his party was equidistant from the BJP and the Congress. The JD(S) joined hands with the Congress to form the Government only because the party saw it as the lesser of two evils, he said. He, however, evaded questions on why the party leadership did not support the BJP to form the Government if, according to his own statement, JD(S) voters were less hostile to the BJP than the Congress.

Mr. Thippanna said that the party leadership had decided not to give up the Bidar seat as the party's existence was at stake. "If we do not contest now, what will our party workers do? Everybody knows that we cannot have an alliance with the Congress in the panchayat elections two months away. Then, how can we seek votes for them now and for us in the panchayat elections," he questioned.

He said a meeting, presided over by its national president, H.D. Deve Gowda, would finalise the candidate for the byelection. That nominee would file his or her papers on Wednesday.

Party sources said that Babu Honna Nayak, who unsuccessfully contested for the Hulsoor (reserved) seat in the recent general elections, was likely to be the JD(S) candidate.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka