Bengaluru: Two former Congress MLAs L R Shivarame Gowd and Suresh Gowda have joined Janata Dal (Secular). Both are aspirants for the ticket to contest from Nagamangala constituency that is represented by N Cheluvarayaswamy, a rebel JD(S) MLA.

Party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda assured both the former legislators that they would gain entry into the Vidhana Soudha, either as an MLA or MLC. He also advised them against exhibiting one-upmanship in the constituency.

Deve Gowda said the party would take a final call on who would be fielded of the two from Nagamangala in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Shivarame Gowda and Suresh Gowda assured him of working for the success of the party candidate, even if they are not fielded.

They alleged that they were sidelined in the Congress after Cheluvarayaswamy became close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Meanwhile, the seven JD(S) rebel legislators are learnt to have got an assurance from the Congress of admitting them into the party fold for having favoured its candidates in the Rajya Sabha polls, through cross-voting, last year.

Now the challenge before the JD(S) is to find suitable candidates for all these seven constituencies.

The party, which had earlier planned to release its first list of 124 candidates for 224 Assembly constituencies by March 15, put such plans on hold.