BANGALORE, January 16: The decision of Youth Services and Sports Minister Ajay Kumar Sarnaik to quit Janata Dal (JD) and join Lok Shakti and the resignation of JD dissident and MP from Chitradurga P Kodandaramaiah, was received with high spirits by the Lok Shakti in the State.The party is trying its best to rope in Medium and Large Scale Industries Minister R V Deshpande. There has been hectic activity in the party circles to woo Deshpande, and Hegde's arrival in the city today evening is said to be geared in this direction. But party sources feel that the JD had been putting pressure on him and had been making him to stick to his earlier decision of `never to quit the party to join Hegde.' ``We are keeping our fingers crossed for Deshapnde to decide in our favour as early as possible. Deshpande's entry is sure to add vigour to Lok Shakti and we expect a leader of his stature to join us rather than remain in Janata Dal's broken house,'' senior Lok Shakti functionary Nada Gowda said.Ministers skip meetFive ministers loyal to Hegde in the Patel govt, abstained from the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday, giving room for speculation about them joining the Lok Shakti. Sources stated that ministers raised the issue of some being in the process of quitting the JD.Hegde not in frayHegde is unlikely to contest the elections as the party wants him for campaigning, state unit president Dr Jeevraj Alva said today He told a press conference here that BJP and Lok Shakti would launch a joint campaign in the presence of Vajpayee, Advani and Hegde.
