Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (Secular) has been a soft target for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders as well as some of the Congress leaders, for its “family politics”. Now, to get rid of the label, former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Devegowda has announced that he will not be fielding any of his family members as candidates in any elections going forward.
Launching the JD(S) party’s official website here on Thursday, September 12, he said, “No one from our family is going to contest in elections any more. We will only field a local candidate from the respective constituency in the upcoming elections, be it the by-polls or general elections.”
Regarding the selection process of the candidates for the upcoming Assembly by-elections in K R Pete and Hunsur, he said, “Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has already visited K R Pete and I too will go there based on the demand of the party workers. The names that our party workers suggest will be considered as candidates for that constituency. This will be applicable in Hunsur as well.”
“I’ve already had a meeting and discussion on the elections with my friends from Hunsur. I received the feedback from them that, every time a candidate from outside the party is fielded, they emerge victorious and later betray us and move out of the party,” he said.
Clarifying on Member of Parliament Prajwal Revanna’s participation in the by-elections, HDD said, “I was pressurized by the party workers to field Prajwal in the upcoming elections and myself to become a parliamentarian. I told them that I had sent a young man to the Parliament and that I will stay here and work for the growth of the party. Prajwal will not be contesting in the by-polls.”
