After ad, Janata Party dissolves J-K unit

“Even as the party’s voter support will decline, we are still committed to the values for which Jayaprakash Narayan had founded this party,” he said.

The party’s state unit had published an advertisement in a local English daily appealing to “interested candidates” to apply for candidature. The advertisement that carried the picture of its national working president, Vijay Mallya, asked prospective candidates to contact state party president Som Nath Dabgotra.

A statement by the party said Dabgotra “failed to contradict” the news reports that he had issued an appeal in the name of party’s working president Mallya seeking applications from persons, who aspired to contest the Assembly elections. The statement said Dabgotra had also failed to contradict the reports that he demanded Rs 5 lakh from mediapersons posing as prospective candidates for providing them with Rs 25 lakh worth of campaign support, a car, a house and even a government security cover.

When an Indian Express reporter, posing as a prospective candidate, had contacted Dabgotra, he had said, “There are no losses, only gains in it. If you can spend Rs 5 lakh, party will give you Rs 25 lakh. You will have PSOs (Personal Security Officers), you will get a car and the Government could provide you with an accommodation.”

When contacted, Dabgotra said he had no information about the dissolution of the party’s state unit. “Why are you calling me? You must yourself know about it,” he told The Indian Express.

However, even as the Janata Party has dissolved its state unit, the party has decided to contest the Assembly elections and authorised Shetty to select only such candidates who have affiliation with the party for quite some time now. “The party would certainly fight the elections,” Swamy said.