Kumaraswamy predicts huge gains for JD(S) in civic polls

  Coming down heavily upon top Congress leaders in the State, JD(S) State President H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said his party will prove its might by winning the urban local bodies (ULB) elections in the home turf of KPCC President G Parameshwara and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to reporters after inaugurating the JD(S) media centre here, Kumaraswamy said his party’s performance in the ULB polls will be a fitting reply to his political detractors’ claims that the JD(S) had lost base in the state and its influence was confined to a few districts.

The former chief minister also claimed that the result of a pre-poll survey was way of the mark from the grassroot political situation across the State.

“We are confident of winning in the home turf of Parameshwara (Koratagere Town Panchayat) and Siddaramaiah (Mysore City Corporation). It would be an eyeopener on our strength in the run up to the Assembly polls,” Kumara­sw­a­my said.

He said the JD(S) would get a majority in the Mysore City Corporation, a feat which no party has been able to achieve since 1983.

The ULB polls are scheduled to be held on Thursday. Kumaraswamy said the JD(S) will also win the Davangere, Hubli-Dharwad and Gulbarga city corporations and around 1,600 wards of the 4,867 wards going to polls.

Though the outcome of the civic polls will not have any direct bearing on the Assembly elections it will make a psychological impact on party workers, he said.

On Cauvery

He dubbed as ‘misleading’ the results of a pre-poll survey aired by a private news channel which predicted a majority for Congress and lower number of seats and percentage of votes for JD(S).
On several leaders such as C S Putte Gowda and S K Kanta, quitting the JD(S), he said their exit would not affect the prospects of the party in the Assembly polls.

Kumaraswamy said experts should desist from making public comments and give open advice to the government on the notification of the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal till the Supreme Court disposes of the pending appeals before it. “Tamil Nadu might use opinions made by experts against the interest of the state during arguments in the Supreme Court,” he reasoned.