The former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda said on Sunday that five of the 14 MLAs who attended the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) convention in Haveri on December 9 had maintained that they did so “under pressure.”
Mr. Gowda told journalists here that the five MLAs “are in talks” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership, which had decided to issue show-cause notice to them.
When pointed out that the party had threatened to initiate action against all its leaders who attended the KJP convention, he said, “Political adjustment is the need of the hour.” The party did not want to create another group (within the party) by issuing show-cause notice to these MLAs, he said.
The BJP was keen on bring back discipline in the party, now that all confusion had been cleared with the former Chief Minister taking over the reins of the KJP on December 9.
First list
Mr. Gowda said the BJP would announce the list of about 125 candidates for the coming Assembly elections, by January 15.
He said five teams of BJP leaders were touring the districts to elicit the views of party functionaries and key activists. He was touring the districts of Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Mysore and Udupi.
In Dakshina Kannada, the team had gone a step ahead and held consultations in each Assembly segment. A final meeting for the district would be held on December 29 and the views would be placed before a State-level meeting before announcing the list, he said.
