The Janata Dal (Secular) on Monday sent a strong political message to seven rebel legislators by admitting two former Congress MLAs — L.R. Shivarame Gowda and Suresh Gowda — who are also ticket aspirants from the Nagamangala constituency. The constituency is now being represented by N. Cheluvarayaswamy, rebel MLA.
In a way, the fate of seven rebels who cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls defying party diktat was finally sealed.
Party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda assured both the former legislators that they would gain entry into the Vidhana Soudha, either as an MLA or MLC. He also advised them against exhibiting one-upmanship in the constituency and indulging in groupism.
He said the party would take a final call on who would be fielded of the two from Nagamangala in the 2018 Assembly polls.
Mr. Shivarame Gowda and Mr. Suresh Gowda assured him of working for the success of the party candidate, even if they are not fielded.
They alleged that they were sidelined in the Congress after Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy became close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Meanwhile, the seven JD(S) rebel legislators are learnt to have got an assurance from the Congress of admitting them into the party fold for having favoured its candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls, through cross-voting, last year. But, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy told The Hindu “we will consult people of our constituencies at an appropriate time and decide on the future course of action”.
Now the challenge before the JD(S) is to find suitable candidates for all these seven constituencies.
The party, which had earlier planned to release its first list of 124 candidates for 224 Assembly constituencies by March 15, put such plans on hold.
