Nitish Kumar to hit poll trail, to visit Karnataka on Apr 12

Bengaluru: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will visit Karnataka on April 12 to campaign for JDU candidates, who will be contesting in about 30 constituencies in the May 12 assembly polls.

"We will be contesting elections in between 24 to 30 seats in Karnataka on our own. Nitishji will be visiting the state on April 12 to kickstart the campaign," JDU (Nitish Kumar Faction) Karnataka Unit President Mahima Patel told reporters here.

Nitish's JDU has allied with BJP in running a coalition government in Bihar.

The list of candidates would be released after Kumar's visit, Patel said, adding, that the main focus of the party will be to play a "kingmakers" role post election.

"Our main focus to jump into the fray is to win a sizeable number of seats to put the party in a position where other major parties would have to seek our support to form the next government," he said.

Patel also said some splinter parties had contacted party leadership for electoral tieup and they would certainly consider it based on merit.

JDU, which was a part of Janata Parivar, had ruled Karnataka under Ramakrishna Hegde and HD Deve Gowda's leadership, but split into more than two factions.

At present, the party does not have any member in state assembly.