The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Four-party alliance to contest 45 seats

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Four-party alliance to contest 45 seats

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Group effort: Indudhar Honnapura, Siddanagowda Patil and G.R. Shivashankar meeting the press in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: The 45 Janapara Rajakeeya Ranga candidates contesting the first round of elections will fight to bring back “activism in politics” as a counter to the politics dominated by real estate and mining interests, said Communist Party of India State secretary Siddanagowda Patil.

Priority

Speaking after releasing the list of candidates of the Ranga — an umbrella political group comprising the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, the CPI, the Republican Party of India and the All-India Forward Bloc — here on Thursday, he said that the first priority of the alliance would be “keeping the communal BJP away from power”.

Indudhar Honnapura, secretary of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha, said that the group would represent the “conscience of the people of Karnataka” inside and outside the Vidhana Soudha at a time when politics had been “reduced to a farce”.

Dr. Patil said that the party was open to supporting non-communal parties, but was “viewing the JD(S) with suspicion” considering the party’s history of alliance with the BJP.

First phase

Eleven candidates from the CPI, 12 from the RPI, 16 from the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha and two from the All India Forward Bloc are contesting the elections in the first phase on May 10 under the Janapara Rajakeeya Ranga banner.

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