BENGALURU: The Janata Dal (Secular) national executive meeting kicked off here on Thursday with around 350 members of the executive taking part.
The elections to the post of state president and national president will be held on Friday. Currently, H D Deve Gowda is the national president while his son H D Kumaraswamy is the state president.
Members from Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Goa are participating in the two-day event. The meet will deliberate on strategies for the 2018 Assembly elections and decide on a course of action for the party.
Speaking to reporters, Deve Gowda said the party will also adopt a resolution with regard to demonetisation.
“We support demonetisation, but it was done without proper planning as a result of which people have been put to great inconvenience,” the former prime minister said.
Gowda also said it had been 12 years since JD(S) was in power and the party will debate on strengthening its presence in areas, especially where it had lost by a small margin in the previous elections.
On the election of the state president, Gowda said, “Since the party president has to be elected in accordance with the party bylaws, anyone can file their candidature and we will consider it. It is not my intention that only Kumaraswamy has to contest the elections,” he said. No nominations had however been filed by Thursday evening which was the last day to do so.
Kumaraswamy, who is in Bengaluru, however skipped the event as did his older brother H D Revanna. Kumaraswamy is expected to attend the event on Friday.
The JD(S) also got a new entrant in the form of H G Venkatesh Gowda, son of former education Minister Govinde Gowda. Venkatesh Gowda is likely to get the ticket for contesting from Sringeri in the 2018 assembly elections.