BENGALURU: After hordes of BJP and Congress leaders joined JDS as they were denied tickets, the party is hoping that they will improve their tally of seats, giving them an advantage in case of a fractured mandate. The JDS has fielded 28 turncoats, of whom nine are in Kalyana Karnataka region, five in Mumbai-Karnataka, three each in Old Mysuru Region, Central Karnataka and Malnad regions and Uttara Kannada district, and one each in Bengaluru city and Dakshina Kannada.
Based on their calculations, the party leaders firmly believe that at least 17 of the 28 candidates have a strong chance of winning, while eight have 50 per cent chance and three are unlikely to make it to Vidhana Soudha.
A senior JDS leader expressed confidence that leaders like former minister AB Malaka Reddy (Yadgir), Ayanur Manjunath (Shivamogga city), Somanagouda Patil (Basavana Bagevadi), Doddappagouda Shivalingappagouda (Jevargi), Gurulingappa Gouda (Shahapur), Suryakanth Nagamarapalli (Bidar), Suraj Soni Naik (Kumta), Manohar Tahsildar (Hangal), MP Kumaraswamy (Mudigeri), and A Manju (Arkalgud) have chances of winning.
“Another winnable candidate is YSV Datta, who had joined Congress and returned to JDS. As his constituency, Kadur falls under the Hassan Lok Sabha seat, represented by Prajwal Revanna, former minister HD Revanna and the MP himself will ensure his victory. They have been instrumental in bringing him back to the party,” the leader said, predicting a close contest in Arasikere between NR Santhosh and Shivalinge Gowda, who had resigned as JDS MLA to contest on a Congress ticket.
However, party leaders see no chances in Varuna, where Bharathi Shankar, who was earlier with the BJP, will fight against former CM Siddaramaiah and Housing Minister V Somanna. “All the candidates were chosen after considering the winnability factor. Most of them are from the North Karnataka region, where we were trying to strengthen our base,” another leader said. JDS leaders are also expecting ‘outside’ help to cross at least 50 seats which will help them negotiate.