JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday called upon his partymen to gear up for the State Assembly elections, which according to him, would be held in May.

Speaking at a meeting of JD(S) workers organised at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore, Gowda said the possibility of holding elections before May 28 was very bright.

Deve Gowda did not agree with the views expressed in some quarters that the elections would have to be postponed till October or November if the Delimitation Act was to be implemented.

“You don’t need that long time to make the delimitation process applicable. A pilot study carried out in Mandya has shown that only three days are sufficient for revising the electoral rolls of a district”, he added. From March 15 onwards, teams of JD(S) leaders would tour various districts to gear up the party for the elections. The JD(S) would contest all the 224 Assembly seats in the State.

Stating that two national parties - the Congress and the BJP- which have strong money and muscle power are making all efforts to finish off the JD(S), Gowda opined that the responsibility of saving the party was in the hands of workers.

“The workers need to foster the party because of its socio-economic policies and programmes”, he added.

Governor chided
Deve Gowda chided Governor Rameshwar Thakur on the grounds that he was devoting his entire time for transferring officials. “Any officer who is perceived to be close to JD(S) is shunted out”, he alleged.

Gowda also took a dig at the Congress and BJP leaders for their demand for waiving off farmers’ loans now.
“About 16 years ago I single-handedly raised the issue in Parliament”, he added.