Internal politics forces JD(S) to seek out pollsters for 2018 candidates

BENGALURU: With just over a year to go, before the 2018 assembly elections, the Janata Dal (Secular) is seeking out internal polls in all the 224 constituencies in the state for selecting the ideal candidates in each of the constituency to represent the party symbol.
While circumstances may dictate changes at the last minute for MLA tickets, party state president H D Kumaraswamy on Friday said the JD(S) is looking to shore up its chances with early selection of candidates.
The JD(S) which was scheduled to announce its first list of candidates as early as this month, it appears the internal polls are likely to push this list later in the year.
“While I had promised tickets to all the sitting MLAs in the party, there was a certain amount of uncertainity among a few of them on retaining the seats. When I asked them whether they will be able to win this time around, few of them could not give a very convincing answer. That is the reason we are conducting the internal polls in all constituencies in the state,” said Kumarasway.
The party has formed local teams, under the new office bearers of the JD(S), to conduct these polls and give a list of possible candidates to be selected from the pool to fight the elctions under the part symbol.
Meanwhile, the drama over the resignation of JD(S) Devanahalli MLA Pilla Munishamappa remains unresolved till late Friday evening.
In an unexpected development for JDS, Munishamappa had resigned as MLA and JDS party membership on February 23.
According to the sources, his resignation came in the wake of inclusion of Nisarga Narayana Swamy who was joined JDS earlier this week. Nisarga Narayana Swamy is a rival of Munishamappa in Devanahalli constituency.
Munishammappa submitted his resignation to legislative assembly speaker K B Koliwad. After receiving the resignation letter, Koliwad told reporters that he would accept the resignation only after examining whether it is according to the rules and regulations.
Reacting to the incident, Kumaraswamy said the MLA had taken a hasty decision without proper facts taken into consideration.
“I was unable to meet the MLA to resolve the issue, as I was out of town on Thursday. There is no serious threat in this case and I will personally meet him to resolve the issue,” said Kumaraswamy.