With the BJP and the Congress fielding candidates for almost all the 89 constituencies bound for the first phase of Karnataka polls on May 10, the Janata Dal (Secular) announced its first list of 64 candidates for the 224-member Assembly.

The list for the first phase, which will largely cover the heartland of the Vokkaliga community, features 25 former MLAs from the 2004 Assembly polls, including former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and former minister HD Revanna — both sons of Vokkaliga patriarch, former prime minister and JDS national president HD Deve Gowda. The JDS, the common factor in the two coalitions that ruled Karnataka after the 2004 polls, is hoping to tide over strong public sentiments against it to be in a position to play a role in Government formation once again.

With nearly 25 of its 58 MLAs from the 2004 Assembly deserting the party to join the BJP or the Congress after the coalition circus crumbled last year, the JDS has been finding it hard to muster up a list of strong candidates.

While the party faces trouble in finding candidates for northern districts, a large number of former MLAs from southern districts, that will go to polls on May 10, have remained with the party.

The JDS is believed to have been waiting for the BJP and the Congress to field their candidates in order to attract dissidents and rebels with the carrot of a nomination. Party spokesman YSV Datta, however, denied this.

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