Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday declared that he is prepared to contest election from any assembly constituency in the State as an independent candidate without using the party or the party’s symbol.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore after JD(S)-BJP joint legislator party meeting, Mr Kumaraswamy asked: “Are those who are making false allegation against me or criticising my family members without any basis prepared to face election in this manner?”

He was reacting to the allegation made by his political beta noire and congress leader D K Shivakumar that JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda was behind deletion of Sathnur constituency (represented by Shivakumar).

DKS challenged
Mr Shivakumar had also stated that he was not afraid of contesting Kanakapura constituency, at present represented by rebel JD(S) leader P G R Sindhia.

He threw an open challenge to D K Shivakumar to contest from any constituency in the State and win the elections. without the symbol of his party (Congress) if he has courage and if he is a mass leader.” 

He said, neither he or his family members were responsible for deletion of Sathnur constituency during the process of delimitation. The delimitation exercise was done by Election Commission independently without any political influence, he added.