Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jan 4: JD(S) has gone back on its decision to give posts of heads of boards and corporations to legislators who could not be accommodated in the ministry. With a view to improve its performance in the coming Lok Sabha election, the party wants to offer these posters to former legislators and party leaders.

JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda, and Karnataka chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, expressed this intention in a meeting of party leaders held in the party office here on Thursday January 3. Both of them requested legislators to agree to sacrifice the positions in the interests of the party, and taking into account the need to perform well in Lok Sabha election. They explained that to achieve this objective, they are compelled to give power to former legislators, and asked the sitting MLAs to give up these positions of power.

"When we had formed coalition government with BJP, no one from our party was appointed to corporations and boards. Now there is a need to distribute power. If we do not do it now, leaders and activists will be miffed. We do not want to repeat the past mistake. For this, the MLAs should sacrifice their interests. We also have to make room for leaders who lost in the election. With these steps, we hope to win more Lok Saba seats, Kumaraswamy explained.

Deve Gowda,supporting what Kumaraswamy said, added that the legislators and minister have the responsibility of saving the party. He said that the party has to nominate people for ten corporations and 20 more positions will be available to the party in coming days. "Nothing much can be achieved from these positions other than getting some grant,office, and car with flag. The MLAs need not fight for these positions. I became minister for the first time after serving politics for 29 years," he recalled, in an attempt to convince them to forgo these positions.