JD(S) to go alone in urban local bodies polls

The JD(S) will go it alone in the first phase of polls to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) scheduled to be held on August 29.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Sunday, JD(S) national president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda said it will be beneficial both for the JD(S) and the Congress if they fight the municipality elections alone.

The State Election Commission announced the timetable for polls to 105 local bodies (out of the 208 ULBs) across the state, last week. A fractured verdict in the 2018 Assembly polls witnessed the JD(S) and the Congress come together to stitch an alliance to form a coalition government. The Congress and JD(S) have even announced that they will have a pre-poll alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

However, things are very much different at the local level. By and large the feeling in the JD(S) is that an alliance in pockets where the party has a straight fight with the Congress could help the BJP make electoral inroads. Besides, it was felt that strength of the JD(S) is that it has a stronghold on local issues compared to the Congress. Pre-poll alliance for local body polls could threaten the very existence of the party.

Gowda said his party had no differences with the Congress. “There will be no confrontation with the Congress. We will have a friendly fight,” he added.

The JD(S) leader said newly appointed Karnataka Pradesh Congess Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao had also expressed similar views when he met him recently.

Replying to queries, Gowda said the JD(S) will soon come out with a booklet to counter the “misinformation campaign” launched by the BJP that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s recent budget proposals were confined only to three districts – Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagara.

He also accused the BJP of creating confusion regarding the crop loan waiver scheme.