JDS won't contest by-elections due to lack of resources: Deve Gowda

A day after Janata Dal (S) forged an alliance with the ruling BJP wrest the Karnataka Legislative Council chairman's  post from Congress party, JD(S) supremo, H. D. Deve Gowda on Wednesday said his party will not contest the forthcoming by-elections in the state due to 'lack of resources' at their command.

The bypoll schedule is yet to be announced by the Election Commission for Maski, Basavakalyan and Sindagi Assembly seats and Belagavi  Lok Sabha seat.

According to a statement released by the former Prime Minister's office here, addressing a press conference in Raichur, he said, "We  are a regional party. We do not have required resources to field our candidates, therefore, we are not contesting in the forthcoming by-elections."

He quickly added that instead of focussing on by-elections, he would rather be  happy to build his party from scratch and get it equipped  to face Assembly elections in 2023. "As long as I am breathing, I will be working hard to build my party, there is no question about that. I am fully involved in building my party," he declared.

While by-elections to Basavakalyan Assembly seat and Belagavi Lok Sabha  are necessitated following the death of Congress MLA B. Narayan  Rao and Union railway minister of state, Suresh Angadi respectively due to Covid-19 in September last year, senior JD(S) leader and Sindagi MLA M. C. Managuli  died last month, due to age related ailments and has necessitated the bypolls there.

The Maski Assembly seat fell vacant after its MLA Pratapgouda Patil defected along with 17 other MLAs in 2019 and joined  the BJP which brought down the coalition government headed by H. D. Kumarswamy.

Patil had won the Maski assembly seat in 2018 from Congress and is now with the BJP.

In a bid to win these seats, the ruling BJP and opposition Congress have already begun the process of shortlisting candidates. The Congress  has already inducted BJP leader Basana Gouda Turvihal, who lost to Pratapgouda by a wafer-thin margin of 213 votes in 2018, while the ruling BJP has appointed BJP vice president and Yediyurappa's son, B. Y. Vijayendra as poll in-charge of this constituency.