No tie-up with Sriramulu, says Janata Dal(S)

The Janata Dal (S) has rejected possibilities of striking a tie-up with BSR Congress in the forthcoming elections to the assembly.
Dal state president HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday shot down reports of such an alliance, declaring that his party would go it alone in the assembly election and come to power on its own. Launching the party’s electoral campaign in Mandya, Kumaraswamy said the JD(S) did not need help from any other party to come to power.

Though he did did not explain the reasons for backing out of the talks with BSR Congress leader Sriramulu, sources in the JD(S) said the latter had demanded a minimum of 100 seats for his party. That would have left JD(S) with just 124 seats. Considering the poor show of BSR Congress candidates in the recent elections for urban local bodies, JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda is said to have rejected Sriramulu’s demand as too ambitious.
Kumaraswamy said the party’s list of candidates would be announced at a public function on April 9. All JD(S)candidates would be required to take an oath in public pledging that they would remain committed to fight for the interest of the people of their constituency and would not change party loyalties for selfish reasons.

After the failure of talks with the JD(S), the BSR Congress is said to be trying to have an understanding with farmers’ groups and various other outfits. The party has announced its support for Raitha Sangha candidate C Puttannnaiah, JD(U) candidate B Somashekar and Kannada Chaluvali leader Vatal Nagaraj.