Cong in talks with JD(S) over coalition in Kalaburagi civic body

Elections to three north Karnataka civic bodies were held on September 3, in which the BJP won the Belagavi while the Congress secured the municipal corporation in Kalaburgi, leaving a hung house in Hubbali-Dharwad.

Congress leader and former Karnataka minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Sunday said the party is in talks with JD(S) to stitch a coalition in Kalaburagi municipal corporation.

Former Karnataka chief minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswami held a meeting with corporators who won in Kalaburagi civic polls, in Bengaluru on Wednesday.  (ANI)

The minister said while a Congress councillor would hold the position of the mayor, a JD(S) leader would get the deputy mayor seat.

“There is going to be an alliance with JD(S) in the Kalaburagi Corporation elections. Congress and JD(S) will hold the positions of mayor & deputy mayor. We are in talks with JD(S),” Patil was quoted as saying my news agency ANI.

The Congress secured the municipal corporation in Kalaburgi, held earlier this month, by winning 27 out of 55 wards to emerge as the single-largest party. The BJP got 23 seats to retain its second position, followed by four seats by JDS and one by an independent candidate.

Elections to three north Karnataka civic bodies were held on September 3, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Belagavi while the Congress secured the municipal corporation in Kalaburgi, leaving a hung house in Hubbali-Dharwad.

As many as 1,100 candidates were in the fray from 195 wards in Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad and Kalaburagi as the municipakl corporations went to the polls on Friday.

The BJP won 35 of the 58 wards in Belagavi, while the independent candidates got 12 seats, pushing Congress to the third position with 10 seats. The AIMIM could manage its foot-hold in only one seat.

The civic body elections in these North Karnataka towns assumed significance for conducting the polls for the first time after chief minister Basavaraj Bommai took over the reins of the BJP government in the state from BS Yediyurappa in July.