Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led JDS today said the party would announce its list of candidates for the May 5 Karnataka assembly elections by the second week of next month.
"The JDS will announce its list of candidates for all 224 Assembly seats by April 10," state JDS president and Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy told reporters here. On March 23, senior JDS leader Basavaraj Horrati had said the party would announce the list by March-end.
Kumaraswamy said the names of at least 170 candidates had been finalised and they were waiting for Gowda's nod. He dismissed reports that JDS was waiting for the Congress and BJP to announce their lists.
"There are a few issues with the selection of candidates, but it does not mean they cannot be resolved," he added.
Replying to yet another query, Kumaraswamy claimed former minister B Sreeramulu, who floated BSR Congress after breaking away from BJP, was keen on an alliance with JDS for the polls and talks had been held in this regard.
JD(S) was analysing pros and cons of the tie-up. "Sreeramulu, however, is keen on the tie up," he said.
Kumaraswamy claimed the Congress and B S Yeddyurappa's Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) had reached a "secret understanding" on the polls, but denied JDS having any such clandestine tie up with any party in the state.
He alleged that BJP and Congress were conspiring against JD(S) to finish it off in the state.
