Karnataka Assembly elections 2018: Kannada actor Pooja Gandhi returns to JDS ahead of polls

She had joined the party in 2012, and quit in 2012.

BENGALURU: Kannada actor Pooja Gandhi has joined the Janata Dal (Secular) or JDS on Saturday. The film star's move comes ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. It is unclear whether she will limit herself to just campaigning for the party, or whether she will seek a ticket.

Gandhi will be among the spate of film stars the JDS will unleash on the campaign trail presumably to counter the prominent role that another star, Divya Spandana, is playing for the ruling Congress.

It is as of now unclear what role Gandhi would play in the run-up to the election. However, local media reports suggest she will only campaign for the JDS across the state and that she would not seek a ticket to contest the election.

This is the beginning of the Mungaru Male star's second stint in the JDS. She had joined the party in 2012, but left the same year to join the then newly-formed Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) of BS Yeddyurappa. Even that wouldn't last. She went on to leave the KJP too, and joined the BSR Congress.

She fought the 2013 Assembly elections as a BSR Congress candidate from the Raichur constituency. She came fourth in the race, getting only 1790 of the 1.85 lakh votes cast, and lost her deposit. Pooja Gandhi has not been in active politics since.

Her decision to join the JDS comes on the heels of other Sandalwood, as the Kananda film industry is called, personalities signing up. Actors Amulya and Shashi Kumar are among the other recent joinees.

Party leader HD Kumaraswamy's son, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, also a Sandalwood star, has already started campaigning for the party of his father and grandfather.

Reports also suggest the JDS is trying to rope in other Kannada film personalities as well.