BENGALURU: BJP and JDS, which are in an alliance in the state, may choose to go separate ways while contesting taluk and zilla panchayat elections, which are likely to be announced by the state government soon.
The alliance was formed ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and the two parties have been together in all later elections, including Assembly bypolls.
On the alliance partners likely to go separate ways, a senior JDS leader told TNIE that during an internal party discussion, many opined that the party should go to the polls alone. “We may contest the polls separately, but at the time of electing presidents and vice-presidents, we will come together,” he said.
“Let both of us contest. It will be a ‘friendly fight’,” he added.
“Many states don’t have regional parties. But in Karnataka, in spite of losing polls and our prominent bases like Hassan, we still have a hold in the Old Mysuru region. As NDA partners, we will contest Assembly and other polls together. But as an individual partu, we need taluk and zilla panchayats,” party sources said.
BJP too is preparing for the local body polls after the visit of party general secretary, Karnataka in-charge, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal. Party state president B Y Vijayendra said, “We are a national party. When the state government announces the ZP-TP polls, our national leaders will decide and we will follow their instructions. In the next one week, we are going to complete the formalities of appointing district presidents of nine districts which are pending.”
He said, “Once that is done, we will chalk out plans to strengthen the party for the polls.”
Karnataka has 1,130 zilla panchayat and 3,671 taluk panchayat constituencies. The panchayat elections were last held in 2016 and have been due since 2021. They were delayed because of various reasons, including court cases, Covid and delimitation. A few months ago, the court had directed the state government to conduct the polls and ministers had been told to gear up.