Election 2014: Parties hit by electoral blues in Karnataka

Bangalore, March 30: Electoral blues of one type or the other has hit all the three principal players -- ruling Congress, BJP and JDS -- in the run up to Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, with the Deve Gowda-led party facing most embarrassing ones.

With an open-door policy for party hoppers, JDS scrambled for candidates in the eleventh-hour as it sought to fish in troubled waters of its opponents and lay its hands on "prize catch" in a predatory move that backfired in several cases.

The party faced the most embarrassing moment on Saturday, when its candidate for Uttara Kannada, former minister Shivananda Nayak bowed out of the race, citing financial constraint, leaving Gowda red-faced.

A former BJP MLA, he had joined Karnataka Janatha Paksha, which former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa floated and recently merged with his parent party, before embracing JDS. JDS recently roped in former Union Minister Dhananjay Kumar from KJP after he was refused entry to BJP and Mahima Patel from Congress. K

umar has been fielded from Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Patel, son of former Chief Minister J H Patel, in Davanagere. It also almost coaxed former Railway Minister C K Jaffar Sharief, who miffed at being denied the ticket from Bangalore Central, had given strong indications about joining JDS.

PTI