JD(S) in a bid to remedy its disconnect with urban voters

As a regional party, the JD(S) has largely stayed away from urban centres, especially Bengaluru, thereby failing to make an impression on the urban voter.

Of the 28 Assembly constituencies, the JD(S) had managed to bag only three seats in the 2013 Assembly elections. To make matters worse, two of the three City MLAs are no longer with the party. They were suspended for anti-party activities. The party’s presence in the city municipal corporation too is abysmal. It has only 14 corporators in the 198 member BBMP council.  

With such a poor representation, it will come as no surprise if the JD(S) fares poorly in Bengaluru in the upcoming Assembly polls too, what with the father-son duo, H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy restricting themselves to either the Cauvery basin or the North Karnataka districts. 
The party leadership however has realised that it has to remedy its disconnect with the urban centre, which has a large chunk of migrant population. For starters, it has announced the setting up of 'Namma Appaji' canteens, solely targeting the economically weaker sections and the floating population to whom it hopes to sell food at highly subsidised rates. The canteens, which are said to be set up in all 28 Assembly constituencies of Bengaluru, will be on the lines of 'Amma' canteens in Tamil Nadu.

On Thursday, Kumaraswamy launched a campaign, ‘Mane Manegu Kumaranna’, a 15-day exercise taken up by the party’s City unit, in Gandhinagar. The aim is to go door to door, and talk about the party’s poster boy - Kumaraswamy, the contributions made by both him and the party supremo H D Deve Gowda, aside from highlighting the failures of the BJP and the Congress.

JD(S) Bengaluru City president, R Prakash says that the party has identified its limitations, and is now working towards rectifying them. “As a regional party, our focus has largely been on farmer’s issues. As a result, the urban voter has never been able to relate to the party. They are stuck with the corrupt and scam ridden BJP and Congress. Bengalureans do not even realise that they have an alternative, and we want to break this jinx. Hence we have started work early this year - we will reach out to as many voters possible for the next ten months, and ask them to trust Kumaranna, and the JD(S),” he said.

The party will distribute pamphlets outlining the contributions made by the JD(S), especially during Kumaraswamy’s tenure as chief minister, and also expose the alleged scams by the national parties in the State’s capital. Prakash said that party has units in all the 28 constituencies, and that presidents, office bearers, and ticket aspirants of all the units

JD(S) workers distribute pamphlets as part of 'Mane Manegu Kumaranna' campaign, in Gandhinagar, on June 1

will knock on the doors of people in their respective constituencies for the next 15 days. Every weekend, the campaign will be led by a two to three legislators, who will reach out to voters in parks, places of worship, bus stands and railway stations. 

This exercise will also help the party identify candidates that it wants to field during the elections. Tickets will be given to those aspirants who reach out to maximum number of people. The City unit also hopes to increase its membership through this exercise. Presently, there are around five lakh members in the party’s City unit, claimed Prakash, adding that the party had garnered seven lakh votes in the City in 2013. The party hopes to double the number in 2018.
 

• JD(S)
• Bengaluru
• H D Kumaraswamy
• H D Deve Gowda
• campaign