Congress, Kumaraswamy-led JD(S) trade charges over support for Rajya Sabha polls

Kumaraswamy said that it was “stupid” on the part of Congress to ask for the JD (S) to overlook its candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls

A day after suggesting that the Congress reached out to discuss a possibility of support for their second candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls, Janata Dal (Secular) or JD (S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy launched into a tirade against the party on Wednesday.

A day after suggesting that the Congress reached out to discuss a possibility of support for their second candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls, JD (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy launched a tirade against the party on Wednesday. (Arijit Sen/HT Photo)

Kumaraswamy said that it was “stupid” on the part of the national outfit to ask for the regional party to overlook its candidate.

“Siddaramaiah has said that the Congress decided to field its second candidate before us. But did they discuss this with us beforehand? They could have asked for support from our party president. Isn’t CM Ibrahim a close friend of his (Siddaramaiah)?” Kumaraswamy said on Wednesday.

“They pursued no such effort and asking us to take back our candidate is stupidity. Are we, their slaves?” he added.

The statements come just two days before the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls for four vacant seats in the upper house of parliament in which the JD(S) has just one candidate but does not have the numbers to get over the line on their own.

To be sure, each candidate requires 45 votes and the JD(S) has just 32 votes on their own. The party had earlier hoped that the Congress would extend support as it had just 25 surplus votes after casting the ballot for their first preference candidate, Jairam Ramesh.

The Congress had fielded Mansoor Ali Khan as its second candidate to corner the JD(S) and its bid to send Kupendra Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.

Kumaraswamy reiterated that the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, had reached out to discuss the possibility of the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led JD(S) backing Khan.

DK Shivakumar, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, said that Surjewala had approached JD(S) for support to defeat communal forces.

People aware of the developments said that Siddaramaiah had insisted on not supporting the JD(S) despite Gowda having approached the senior leadership of the Congress for support.

Siddaramaiah was with the JD(S) till 2006 when he was pushed out and ever since has spared no opportunity to get back at his mentor-turned-rival, Gowda and his family.

“Before the JD(S), we fielded a candidate and after a day, they did. If they wanted to defeat communal forces, they would not have fielded a candidate. We fielded a candidate from the minority community (Khan) and let them support us and we will defeat communal forces,” Siddaramaiah said.

Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to benefit from the fight between the two main opposition parties in the state as it would help its third candidate Lahar Singh Siroya win.

The BJP had earlier fielded just Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaggesh for the two seats, which it can win with the existing votes. The BJP also has 32 surplus votes which it believes can help Singh win and increase its tally in the upper house. The move was also seen as a way for the central leadership of the party to cut off any room for negotiations and coalitions between leaders in the state which may not be in the interest of the party and its bid for another term in office.

“BJP is not making any offer for anyone in the Rajya Sabha polls. BJP will win on its strength. We have nothing to do with the offers between Congress and JDS,” chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said.