The H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) on Thursday picked a Muslim face for the upcoming Basavakalyan Assembly bypolls, a move the party hopes will reiterate its ‘secular’ credentials amid talk that it was growing closer to the BJP.
JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy formally inducted Syed Yasrab Ali Quadri and announced him as the candidate for Basavakalyan. Syed was earlier with the Congress.
Kumaraswamy also announced that his party would field a candidate in Maski, the other Assembly constituency facing bypolls.
Three seats - Belgaum Lok Sabha, Basavakalyan and Maski Assembly seats - will go to bypolls on April 17.
Addressing a news conference, Kumaraswamy said the Congress had projected the JD(S) as "being pally" with the BJP. “In the 2018 Assembly polls, we were winning 68-70 seats. But, the Congress hatched a conspiracy to project us as the BJP’s ‘B’ team, urging one particular section of society to not vote for us,” he said.
“Even now, Congress leaders have been saying the JD(S) is getting closer to the BJP. I’ve taken this up as a challenge,” said Kumaraswamy. “I know what the Congress will do now. They will say the JD(S) fielded a Muslim candidate as part of an understanding with the BJP to cut Congress’s votes,” he said. “The Congress has pushed our party into a place where there's suspicion. So, I want to send a clear message to all 224 constituencies,” he added.
According to Kumaraswamy, Syed has good ties with all sections of society in Basavakalyan. Apparently, he belongs to a family connected with a famous dargah there. “Basavakalyan is a JD(S) stronghold. Our candidate has won seven times here,” Kumaraswamy pointed out.
“Even in Maski, we will put up a fight. The entire Raichur district, where Maski is located, has extreme potential for us to win five to six of the seven Assembly segments,” he said, adding that the party will finalise its Maski candidate on Friday.
JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had earlier announced that his party will not contest the bypolls. “But we decided to contest so that our party workers are not demoralised,” Kumaraswamy said. The party is undecided on fielding a candidate for the Belgaum bypolls.
Kumaraswamy said he had enough experience in fighting bypolls. “Perhaps, I’m second after Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in having conducted the highest number of bypolls,” he said. “We have taken the two Assembly bypolls seriously. We will rise above financial difficulties and crooked tactics to fight the bypolls.”
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