BENGALURU: “No one listens to us,” seems to be the refrain of the JDS workers. The workers, in its 60 plus constituencies spread largely across South Karnataka where the party can still win, given a little more support, have a major complaint, “you did not do this for us when you were in power.’’ Asked about it, H D Kumaraswamy who resigned as CM about two weeks ago, told TNIE, “Yes it is true, I have heard it myself .’’
Stung by the complaints and feeling helpless that he could not do enough for the loyal workers, Kumaraswamy had even shed tears a week ago. He said, “All these complaints have to be understood in the right perspective. The workers’ complaints are not quite reasonable. In 2006, we had a 20-20 government based on BJP support. BJP was the restraining factor. In 2018, we had a coalition government for 14 months with Congress support and Congress was the restraining factor.’’
He asked, “How can we take decisions independently, when this is the situation?’’
The party is, however, not responding with indifference to the loud complaints of its rank and file. A workers’ meet will be held on Wednesday to hear their woes and infuse a fresh dose of fighting spirit in them as the by-polls are round the corner, necessitated by the disqualification of 17 MLAs. The party will need to retain at least 3 of the 17 seats that go to the polls.
Party national president H D Deve Gowda told TNIE, “The voter has given me the verdict not to go to parliament but to go to the party and rebuild it. I go to the party office every day.’’
Gowda, 87, has been spending time talking to his party leaders and listening to their complaints. Kumaraswamy said, “The problem is that we received a fractured verdict in the LS election. There was a buzz that a group of workers was moving away from us. But it is not true. I have toured the areas of Mandya, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan in the past few days and our voter base is intact. But yes, we have lost a few leaders, but not workers.’’
One source said in the early 1990s, Deve Gowda went from taluk to taluk by train and bus trying to rebuild the party. All that hard work paid off when he became CM in 1994 December with a vote share of 33.5 per cent.JDS will be seeking to reclaim the vote share that was lost.
Complaint Box
Ticket distribution
Family is preferred over
party workers
Favourites
Some are preferred over others
Did not listen to us when in power
Family members interfere in party affairs
They treat party workers callously