Exodus of sitting, ex-MLAs on, anxiety mounts for JD(S)

Shyam Sundar Vattam I NT

Bengaluru: Two days after for mer JD(S) MLA from Kadur, YSV Datta joined the Congress Party, another JD(S) MLA from Arsikere, K.M.Shivalingegowda is all set to jump ship all due to serious differences of opinion with former CM H.D.Kumaraswamy.

With the Assembly elections round the corner, the exodus of sitting and former JD(S) legislators has come as a big shock for the regional party which has set a target of 123 seats in the coming Assembly elections so that it can form the government on its own. Datta had made his intentions of quitting the JD(S) clear long ago and also had a discussion with Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC President D.K.Shivakumar.

Datta was popularly called ‘Manasa Putra of JD(S) supremo H.D.Deve Gowda and would frame the election manifesto of the party during every parliamentary, Assembly, and panchayat election. He had been loyal to the Deve Gowda family till recently but feeling that he had no future in the JD(S) in the current political scenario, Datta made up his mind to follow Siddaramaiah, his erstwhile colleague in the Janata Parivar.

The exit of Datta followed by Shivalingegowda from the JD(S) would be a huge loss as the party has to search for new candidates to take on sitting or former legislators. Datta belongs to the minority Brahmin community but his constituency, Kadur is dominated by Vokkaligas, SC/ST, Kurubas, and OBCs and he had to win the confidence of every community to win the election.

The campaign by Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar may help him to cross the hurdle easily. Similarly, Shivalingegowda from Arasikere has been a loyal soldier of the JD(S) but felt sidelined after he thanked Siddaramaiah for his victory in the 2018 Assembly polls. Since then he has stopped getting invitations for party meetings.

Already, two sitting JD(S) MLAs from Tumakuru and Kolar have decided to join the Congress Party after the budget session. In that case, a majority of the sitting legislators would either join the Congress Party or BJP, and the JD(S) will have to find new candidates in these constituencies. Former PM, Deve Gowda’s efforts to hold back party MLAs has failed miserably as one after the other has been quitting the party in search of greener pastures.