'Suspended MLAs won't seek JD(S) ticket for Assembly polls'

Rebel JD(S) MLA N Cheluvarayaswamy said on Friday said that the suspended MLAs will not approach the party seeking ticket to contest the Assembly elections next year.

Except for Mahalakshmi Layout MLA K Gopalaiah, all the seven suspended JD(S) legislators are together. “We will jointly take an appropriate decision soon on joining other political party... We have neither submitted an application seeking the party ticket nor will we approach H D Kumaraswamy (JD-S state president) for the purpose,” he told reporters.

He was speaking after meeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his home-office “Krishna.” Chamarajpet MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan and Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy accompanied Cheluvarayaswamy. The JD(S) suspended eight of its MLAs last year after they rebelled against the leadership and cross-voted in favour of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections.

One of the rebel MLAs, Gopalaiah, however, recently made peace with the JD(S) leadership by admitting that he had done a mistake by staging a rebellion. He took the decision, sources in the JD(S) said, after realising that he was unlikely to get the ticket to contest the next Assembly polls if he joined the Congress.

Sources said some of the rebel JD(S) MLAs are in a dilemma whether to sever ties with the party or follow in the footsteps of Gopalaiah. Neither the Congress nor the BJP has so far promised them on giving the ticket to contest the 2018 Assembly polls, the sources added.