The Assembly elections will be a fight between the Janata Dal (S) and the Congress, and the return of the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna to Karnataka will not have any impact, Janata Dal (S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy has said.
Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, he said no one could keep the party from doing well in the elections. “Whether B.S. Yeddyurappa quits the Bharatiya Janata Party or not, it will have little impact on our poll prospects,” he said.
The JD(S) would either form the government on its own or prefer to sit in the Opposition. There was no question of joining hands with the Congress, BJP or Karnataka Janata Paksha in case of a hung Assembly, he said. The JD(S) had learnt its lessons from its experiences with the Congress as well as the BJP when it formed a coalition government with them. No more coalition, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.
Replying to a question, he said the JD(S) would not induct any BJP legislators and Ministers into the party. The party would prefer to have youngsters and build a second line of leadership. He said he had already identified candidates to fight the elections, he said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was keen on making inroads into the north Karnataka region, which was considered the BJP bastion.
“The party was already able to extend its base in north Karnataka and in the next elections we will win not less than 145 seats and prove political analysts who are speculating a hung Assembly, wrong, he said.
