JD (U) to field candidates against ally BJP in Karnataka

The alliance between two National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners – BJP and JD (U) – is all but over in Karnataka with the JD (U) announcing its list of 25 candidates for the coming assembly elections in the State.

The release of JD (U) candidates’ list came after talks between the NDA partners remained deadlocked over the issue of sharing of seats.

The first list of 25 candidates released by JD (U) covers its nominees for 18 seats, where the BJP has already fielded its candidates.

According to the JD (U) list, party’s state unit President and former Minister B Somashekar will be contesting from Malavalli reserved assembly segment while MLA in the dissolved Assembly J C Madhuswamy will enter the fray from Chikkanayakanahalli segement. The JD (U) has fielded trade Union leader Michael Fernandes, who is also the brother of former Federal Minister George Fernandes, from Sarvajna Nagar constituency in Bangalore.

The JD (U) has criticized the BJP for “unilaterally” declaring its candidates for the coming elections without consulting the party, which was a key NDA ally. The BJP has already announced its candidates for 185 seats out of the 224 assembly constituencies in the state.

The JD (U), which shares power with the BJP in Bihar, had sought 25 seats, the same number it had contested during the 2004 polls. But, the BJP leadership was unwilling to spare its ally more than 10 seats.

Another grouse of the JD (U) was that in most of the 10 seats, which the BJP was willing to cede, there was little or no presence of JD (U) or BJP.