Uphill task for JD(S) to pick candidates for its bastions

The Janata Dal (Secular) faces an uphill task to select candidates for the parliamentary constituencies considered its bastion.

Barring Hassan where the party supremo, H D Deve Gowda, will be its candidate, the JD(S) has not been able to decide whom to field in its other strongholds of Chikkaballapur, Mandya and Mysore.

JD(S) sources said the party would “wait and watch” before releasing the second and third lists of its candidates.

One of the reasons for the delay in releasing the second list is the possibility of BSR Congress allying or merging with the JD(S) if the former is spurned by the BJP, the sources added.

The JD(S) is a divided house on welcoming Sriramulu. The party’s leader, H D Kumaraswamy, had earlier decided against admitting Sriramulu on the ground that the party is against barons who have been accused of illegal mining.

Besides Sriramulu, the party is considering approaching Mahima Patel, son of former chief minister J H Patel and an influential leader of the Lingayat community, to improve its prospects in north Karnataka.

As for Chikkaballapur, Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha is learnt to have said that she is “not mentally prepared” to contest yet another election. Still, it is unclear whether the JD(S) will field any other candidate given the party workers’ “insistence” that only a member of the JD(S)’ first family be fielded there.

In Bangalore, the JD(S) is working out all the permutations and combinations. At least one candidate from a minority community is likely to be fielded in one of the three constituencies in the State capital.

While sources claim the second list may be released only on March 15, Kumaraswamy said he was “confident” of releasing the list by Wednesday evening.