Owning moral responsibility for the poor show of the JD(S) in the elections to three municipal corporations, national general secretary of the party and former MLA N.H. Konaraddi announced his resignation from the post on Tuesday.
Making the announcement during a press conference in Hubballi on Tuesday, Mr. Konaraddi said that despite all-out efforts by him and leaders, the party had performed very poorly. So owning moral responsibility, he decided to resign. He said that he will continue to work for the party as an ordinary worker. He said that he has not yet spoken to the party chief on his resignation but will abide by the party’s decision on his resignation. The JD(S) won one seat in Hubballi and four in Kalaburagi and none in Belagavi. It won nine seats in Hubballi and 10 in Kalaburagi in the previous municipal councils. In both these cities the party had fielded over 40 candidates.
The former MLA from Navalgund said that the all-out efforts by the party workers on sensitising people about the misrule of the present disposition had failed to make an impact. Another reason was the misuse of the administrative machinery by the ruling party, he said.
Mr. Konaraddi said that as the government agencies were being misused frequently, there was dire need for court-monitored election process to ensure that the elections were held in a free and fair manner.
Regarding an alliance with either the BJP or the Congress in Kalaburagi, Mr. Konaraddi said that the party high command will take a decision in a couple of days. To a query, he said that personally, he felt that the JD(S) should go with a secular party as it stood for secular principles. He, however, clarified that the earlier decisions on alliance with the Congress and the BJP on different occasions were decided keeping the interests of the people and State in mind.
