BENGALURU: The JDS, whose MLA B Sathyanarayana’s death necessitated the by-election at the Sira constituency, may field his wife, and not the son, to contest the poll.The party was earlier leaning towards Sathyanarayana’s son Sathya Prakash, who was a taluk panchayat president. But it is now learnt that the party top leaders are thinking of a “better candidate” and may pick his wife Ammajamma.
The party is cautious as it performed miserably and lost all the 15 by-polls in the state in the last round, though its candidates had held three of those constituencies at KR Pete in Mandya, Hunsur in Mysuru and Mahalakshmi Layout in Bengaluru. The general assessment among the leaders is that the party could have performed better if it had picked stronger candidates.
The party has decided to pick Ammajamma over Sathya Prakash as the assumption is that she carries a greater sympathy factor that can be a better vote puller than the son’s pluses of being acceptable and being better known in the constituency.
The JDS core group has suggested that the party needs to be extra cautious, considering that the by-polls largely favour the ruling party, even though statistically the maximum votes polled by the BJP in the last three elections here are less than 18,000. Traditionally, this seat has seen a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and JDS, and the BJP standing a a poor third. But nothing can be ruled out this time as the State Government will use all its might to win the poll, JDS leaders said.
The party should also consider who the candidates from the other parties are and choose prudently, they explained. Whether Sathya Prakash himself or his mother is picked, he will work hard to win the election as it is his own grieving mother who will be the candidate, they said.
A senior JDS leader said that the party used the same formula in the Gulbarga South constituency where the then JDS state president H D Kumaraswamy fielded Aruna Patil Revoor, wife of party MLA Chandrashekar Patil Revoor who passed away in 2010.