Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Apr 14: With Karnataka state Assembly elections less than a year away, political parties are already preparing to fire all guns in order to win the maximum of seats. And JD(S), led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda as the national president and his son H D Kumaraswamy as its state president, the regional party is initiating its preparations in style, apparently by renting a helicoptor and a plane to tour the state.
According to a report in a Kannada daily, JD(S) has decided to hire a 14-seater airplane and a helicoptor so that Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and other party leaders can tour the state ahead of the next elections.
As it is difficult to cover all the consituencies in the state by road, the helicopter will be used between 8 and 5 pm. However, as rainfall and weather conditions may hamper helicopter travel, a special airplane too has been be taken on contract.
The aircraft have been hired for a period of one year, the report stated.
The party has already identified 110 Assembly constituencies where it is likely to win. Kumaraswamy will be participating in four programmes in each of these constituencies over the next one year. The tour is scheduled to start soon, and for this reason, the helicopter and airplane have been hired.
"I have to tour the entire state in order to prepare for the next elections. It is difficult to travel everywhere by road, hence to ensure that election preparations are not hampered, some of my friends got together to hire a helicopter and an airplane on contract. My friends are contributing towards the expenses and maintainence," said Kumaraswamy.
In the 110 constituencies that have been identified as being favourable to JD(S), the party has already held review meetings regarding choice of candidates. Based on review reports and reports furnished by the party's core committee members, tickets will be given to deserving candidates, party sources said. That apart, the JD(S) also wants to strengthen its hold in 30 other constituencies. Party MLAs have already been told to start poll preparations. Kumaraswamy will be participating in programmes at four places as desired by the candidates in these constituencies, and one programme after the announcement of poll dates.
Sources close to Kumaraswamy said that as the party will not have more than three or four star campaigners, unlike the other two national parties, JD(S) workers want Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda to participate in every programme. Hence, to make long distance travel easy, the helicopter and airplane have been hired. Moreover, as the election battle heats up, it would be difficult to get aircraft later on due to pressure from other parties, so the JD(S) has gone ahead and taken this step.
As per the report, JD(S) sources said that the party workers have been told to take a leaf out from BJP's campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where poll preparations at the booth level began a year before the elections. In fact, Kumaraswamy has even planned a digital campaign to attract the social media users, the report said.