BENGALURU: Despite being coalition partners at the state level, the Congress and JDS have decided to fight the upcoming Urban Local Body (ULB) polls independently. The coalition partners had chosen to do the same in 2018 ULB polls as well, allowing alliances and partnerships to build up post results.
While the Congress had already announced that it would allow its local unit leaders to take a call on joining hands with the JDS, H Vishwanath, JDS’ state president on Wednesday said that the party will go into ULB polls alone. Sixty three ULBs across 22 districts including eight City Municipal Councils (CMC), 33 Town Municipal Councils (TMC) and 22 Town Panchayats (TP) will go to polls on May 29.
Bypolls to ULBs will also be held for vacant seats in 10 Taluk Panchayats, 202 Gram panchayats, two seats in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and one seat in Tumkuru Corporation on the same day. While the JD(S) and Congress, who are in a coalition in BBMP as well, will fight two seats together, all other ULBs are likely to see coalition partners taking on each other.
“The JDS will not ally with the Congress for the ULB polls. The party will contest alone,” said H Vishwanath, State President, JDS to media on Wednesday. “We will leave it to our local leaders to decide whether they should have an alliance with the JDS for the ULB polls.