JD(S) to launch campaign to strengthen party in Karnataka

Janata Dal (Secular) launches State-wide campaign led by Nikhil Kumaraswamy to strengthen party membership and address issues.

The Janata Dal (Secular) will launch a State-wide campaign on Monday, June 16, to strengthen the party and improve membership. Called ‘Janarondige Janata Dal’, it will be led by the party’s youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

While the programme will be formally launched by Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy here on Sunday, it will get going from Gubbi in Tumakuru district from Monday and continue for two months.

The JD(S) saw an erosion of its vote share to 13% in the 2023 Assembly polls, down from 19% in the 2018 Assembly elections. The party, however, won the Mandya and Kolar parliamentary seats in 2024 besides helping the BJP win crucial seats of Tumakuru, Mysuru, and Bengaluru Rural, among others, in its traditional stronghold of Old Mysore region.

Sources said the campaign would include multiple events daily, including public meetings, interaction with party cadre, and identification of problems in the areas. The interaction will help in identifying problems in the party structure and allow a decision to rectify them later. “There could be a possible reshuffle in the district units. There are complaints of a lackadaisical attitude of the district unit office-bearers,” said the source.

Sources said the event was expected to bridge the gap between the party workers and the leadership. This will be the first independent party campaign for Mr. Nikhil Kumaraswamy to bolster the membership. Earlier, he had led the party in a padayatra to Mysuru against the alleged scam in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, in which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s family was accused of benefitting from site allocation.

While Mr. Nikhil Kumaraswamy has lost the three elections that he has contested, his name has figured among the possible successors of the Union Minister as the party’s State president. The event is also expected to galvanise party workers ahead of a possible elections to taluk panchayat and zilla panchayats.

Sources said that as part of the party-building campaign, the JD(S) has also launched a “missed call campaign” to register party workers. “Though primarily the campaign is to build the party, the State government’s failures will be highlighted,” said the source.