Terming the byelections to Sira Assembly constituency on November 3 as “litmus test” for Janata Dal (Secular), former Chief Minister H.D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said the party will announce the candidates for Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar in the next two days.
While JD(S) insiders said the party’s first preference for candidate for Sira was the family of the deceased legislator B. Satyanarayana, there were at least three more strong contenders from the grassroots.
On Wednesday, as Mr. Kumaraswamy kickstarted the campaign in Sira, a day after the Election Commission announced schedule for the byelections, the public rally saw at least three local leaders throw their hats in the ring.
“We will announce the candidate in the next two days after consulting with the hobli-level leaders. We will not push the candidature unilaterally and the party will take everyone into confidence. It’s important that the party wins in Sira,” he said.
Preparations
The Congress had announced the candidature of former Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra as its candidate in Sira and the BJP has had several rounds of meetings on this. Mr. Kumaraswamy said JD(S) was not slow in preparation compared to national parties. “We had a meeting at the party’s office in Bengaluru, and we had planned meetings after the Assembly session.”
Mr. Kumaraswamy also held meetings with party leaders from R.R. Nagar constituency, which has a sizeable number of Vokkaliga votes. “Traditionally, the party has been polling around 50,000 votes and internally, several people in the BJP are not happy with Muniratna, who left the Congress to join the BJP. The JD(S) wants to put up a good fight,” party sources said.
