BASAVAKALYAN (BIDAR DISTRICT): The Janata Dal (Secular) is determined to win the Basavakalyan by-election, and will put in its best efforts, former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said here on Thursday afternoon.
This is the reason the party has not fielded candidates for the Maski bypoll or Belagavi Lok Sabha seat, he told reporters. He reached Basavakalyan constituency in Bidar district from Kalaburagi. The party has fielded Syed Yasreb Ali Qadri as the candidate from Basavakalyan.
“All JDS leaders will campaign for the candidate in Basavakalyan, and I will visit all villages in the constituency in the coming days to seek the blessings of voters,” Kumaraswamy said. Basavakalyan was the bastion of the JDS, and we have mass support here, he added.
He said he will remind the people of what the Janata Dal and coalition governments had done for the people of Bidar district, when he and his father HD Deve Gowda were chief ministers. Holding up his party’s secular credentials, he said the party has fielded a candidate belonging to the minority community, and this is a message to both the Congress and BJP.
Pooh-poohing the BJP’s claims that it has already won the Basavakalyan by-election, he said the party had delayed announcing the names of candidates. This clearly shows that the BJP is overconfident of winning the elections with money and muscle power, he added.
Kumarawamy later visited a few temples with Qadri and other leaders, before the latter filed his nomination papers. In the evening, a bike rally was held, with Kumaraswamy addressed a public rally with JDS deputy leader in the assembly Bandeppa Kashampur.