BENGALURU: With a revolt brewing in JD(S) over selection of the candidate for election to the Legislative Council from South Graduates’ constituency, state unit chief H D Kumaraswamy held a meeting with peeved legislators but a new problem has cropped up, adding to woes of top leaders of the party.
Lok Sabha member C S Puttaraju, former minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, Puttanna, Akhanda Srinivas, and C Balakrishna, all legislators are unhappy over the candidature of former MLC H K Srikante Gowda, announced by party patriarch H D Deve Gowda.
They had threatened to remain neutral in the election if the candidate was not changed. All miffed legislators had opined that they should have been consulted before finalizing the candidate, and imposition of a candidate was not a good sign. They demanded that the party field a new face as Mr Srikante Gowda had been elected thrice from the same constituency.
Gauging the gravity of the situation, Mr Kumaraswamy held a meeting at Mr Puttaraju’s residence in Bengaluru to smoke the peace pipe. The legislators and Mr Putttaraju wanted the ticket to be given to Mr Jagadish, a close confident of Mr Cheluvarayaswamy. Mr Kumaraswamy promised to take up the matter with Mr Deve Gowda on his eturn from Kerala on Sunday.
Sources in the party said the legislators also complained about the style of functioning of Mr Kumaraswamy who skipped important meetings. They reportedly told him that if JD (S) could win more seats in 2018 Assembly polls, he who would become the CM and not others. Mr Kumaraswamy promised to work for the party on completion of shooting of his son's movie “Jaguar”.
