BENGALURU: With the hope of bagging only one of the seven vacant MLC seats, and no guarantee of winning even one of four Rajya Sabha seats, the JDS decided to go with the advice of its supremo, former Prime Minister, H D Deve Gowda. Turning 90 on Wednesday, Gowda this time skipped his annual visit to Tirupati, and held a meeting of party legislators and key leaders at a resort in Devanahalli in the evening. Plans were also chalked out for the June 3 MLC and June 10 Rajya Sabha polls.
Former Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy’s name has once again started making the rounds as a strong candidate who could be an all-party candidate. “He has all the tactics and resources,” remarked a source. JDS’ Bengaluru City district president R Prakash, a Vokkaliga and close associate of the Gowda family, is likely to be nominated by the party as a surprise candidate, it added. Since some MLAs have distanced themselves from the party over a period of time, Gowda wanted to keep the remaining flock together, and chose to host the dinner on the pretext of the JDLP meeting.
Some MLC aspirants are expecting him to talk to either the BJP or Congress high command to get surplus votes if JDS fields a second candidate by transferring the surplus votes to their fourth candidate in RS polls. Former CM H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday clarified that the fourth candidate for the RS might win unanimously, which means he should garner surplus votes of all three major political parties. He has also ruled out senior leader C M Ibrahim, as the latter was anointed as state party chief post.