JDS keeps guessing game on, sends four Kalaburagi councillors into safe zone

BENGALURU: Once again, the JDS finds itself as kingmaker. The party has shepherded its four Kalaburagi councillors into a safe house in Bengaluru, to stave off advances by the Congress and BJP, locked in a battle for supremacy in the Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike (KMP). 

The big two, who are short of numbers in the 55-member House, are ready to pay big money to poach the four councillors, who hold the key to power. JDS leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy confirmed to TNIE that the foursome has been brought to Bengaluru, and he is holding meetings with them. He also confirmed that the BJP and Congress have offered to pay the councillors -- N Appaji Gowda, Sandesh Nagaraj, CR Manohar and Kanthraj BML -- Rs 75 lakh each.

Asked which party the JDS would support, Kumaraswamy said he has not yet taken a decision, and has left it to the four councillors. The party is driving a hard bargain, with the councillors demanding that the JDS be given two of five terms as mayor, and three standing committees of their choice. 

“We will decide all this after the Mayor and Deputy Mayor election dates are announced. My priority is not so much these civic elections. I have told the councillors that my priority is to win the two assembly constituencies of Gulbarga Dakshin and Gulbarga Uttar. We want to win 100 assembly seats overall across the state,” Kumaraswamy said.      

All three parties will now try to get maximum share in the upcoming Legislative Council polls for 25 seats from the Urban Local Body constituencies, where elections are due in a few months, and would like to maximise representation through its four seats in KMP.