The Hindu

• Party likely to go for elections without any alliance

Mangalore, Apr 8: Janata Dal (Secular) will field its candidates in all the eight Assembly constituencies of Dakshina Kannada, president of its district unit K.B. Balraj Rai has said.

The district unit will forward the applications received from prospective candidates to the State unit by Thursday.

The final list of candidates would be announced by the State unit soon, he said.

Mr. Rai told The Hindu here on Sunday that the district unit had received nine applications, including three for Mangalore constituency, two each for Puttur and Sullia, and one each for Belthangady and Bantwal constituencies. Candidates aspiring to contest from Mangalore North and Mangalore South had collected the application forms and might submit them by Monday, he added.

Tie-up

Asked if Janata Dal (S) was looking for any pre-poll alliance with other parties, he replied in the negative. There was talk of tie-up with Samajwadi Party at the State level. But nothing had come of it so far.

The State unit would decide on any possible alliance, later, he said and added that the district unit was confident of contesting the election on its own, thus paving the way for a triangular contest in the district.

Committees

The district unit had constituted election coordination committee, publicity committee and appointed observers for all constituencies, he said.

K. Amarnath Shetty, former minister and senior party leader, would head the election coordination committee and Nazeer Ullal, leader, would head the publicity committee. Senior party leaders from the district had been accommodated in both the committees and they would jointly execute the responsibilities assigned by the party, he said.