<p class="bodytext">The JD(S) will go it alone in the first phase of polls to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) scheduled to be held on August 29.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Sunday, JD(S) national president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda said it will be beneficial both for the JD(S) and the Congress if they fight the municipality elections alone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The State Election Commission announced the timetable for polls to 105 local bodies (out of the 208 ULBs) across the state, last week. A fractured verdict in the 2018 Assembly polls witnessed the JD(S) and the Congress come together to stitch an alliance to form a coalition government. The Congress and JD(S) have even announced that they will have a pre-poll alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, things are very much different at the local level. By and large the feeling in the JD(S) is that an alliance in pockets where the party has a straight fight with the Congress could help the BJP make electoral inroads. Besides, it was felt that strength of the JD(S) is that it has a stronghold on local issues compared to the Congress. Pre-poll alliance for local body polls could threaten the very existence of the party.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gowda said his party had no differences with the Congress. “There will be no confrontation with the Congress. We will have a friendly fight,” he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The JD(S) leader said newly appointed Karnataka Pradesh Congess Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao had also expressed similar views when he met him recently.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Replying to queries, Gowda said the JD(S) will soon come out with a booklet to counter the “misinformation campaign” launched by the BJP that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s recent budget proposals were confined only to three districts – Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagara.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He also accused the BJP of creating confusion regarding the crop loan waiver scheme.</p>
<p class="bodytext">The JD(S) will go it alone in the first phase of polls to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) scheduled to be held on August 29.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Sunday, JD(S) national president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda said it will be beneficial both for the JD(S) and the Congress if they fight the municipality elections alone.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The State Election Commission announced the timetable for polls to 105 local bodies (out of the 208 ULBs) across the state, last week. A fractured verdict in the 2018 Assembly polls witnessed the JD(S) and the Congress come together to stitch an alliance to form a coalition government. The Congress and JD(S) have even announced that they will have a pre-poll alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.</p>.<p class="bodytext">However, things are very much different at the local level. By and large the feeling in the JD(S) is that an alliance in pockets where the party has a straight fight with the Congress could help the BJP make electoral inroads. Besides, it was felt that strength of the JD(S) is that it has a stronghold on local issues compared to the Congress. Pre-poll alliance for local body polls could threaten the very existence of the party.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gowda said his party had no differences with the Congress. “There will be no confrontation with the Congress. We will have a friendly fight,” he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The JD(S) leader said newly appointed Karnataka Pradesh Congess Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao had also expressed similar views when he met him recently.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Replying to queries, Gowda said the JD(S) will soon come out with a booklet to counter the “misinformation campaign” launched by the BJP that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s recent budget proposals were confined only to three districts – Hassan, Mandya and Ramanagara.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He also accused the BJP of creating confusion regarding the crop loan waiver scheme.</p>