E-Paper
Cong retains second RS candidate; 4th seat to see tough fight
The Congress on Friday decided to retain its second candidate for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka, indicating a breakdown in talks between JD(S) founder and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and the Congress central leadership
The Congress on Friday decided to retain its second candidate for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka, indicating a breakdown in talks between JD(S) founder and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and the Congress central leadership.
Notably, Congress state leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah was opposing any alliance with the JD(S) in order not to repeat the 2019 Lok Sabha debacle.
There are just four vacancies in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress fielded two candidates each while the Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) fielded one. Friday was the last day for withdrawal of nomination papers.
Leaders from all three parties are confident of securing a win for the fourth seat despite not having enough numbers on their own. To be sure, any candidate will require 45 votes to secure and win.
The BJP and Congress will have an additional 32 and 25 votes, respectively, excluding the second preferential votes, while the JD(S) has just 32 votes on its own for its lone aspirant Kupendra Reddy.
The Congress, which can only win one seat on its own strength, has fielded Jairam Ramesh and second surprise candidate, Mansoor Ali Khan.
“We have 32 votes and I will appeal to all of them to cast their ballot in our favour and am confident that they will do it. The BJP and we have 32 votes each (additional) and the Congress has 25. Even if we get one or two more, then we will win. But we don’t know for sure if this will happen,” HD Revanna, former minister and senior JD(S) leader, said on Friday.
“If you want to keep communal forces away, then vote for us. But I don’t know what their (Congress) intention was with fielding the third candidate. They say that it was because the high command said so,” he said.
However, there are at least five legislators of the JD(S) who were likely to abstain from the vote as they have expressed their intent to part ways with the Deve Gowda-led regional party. It remains to be seen if these legislators will cross vote in favour of another candidate, denting the chances of the JD(S) further.
Karnataka is known for its complex political equations which are mostly run-on local coalitions and cross voting is not an unusual practice. All three parties have issued whips to its respective legislators to restrict them from backing a candidate not from their own party.
“Why should we withdraw our nomination. We have put up a (second) candidate because we think we can win. If legislators vote with their conscience, we will win,” Siddaramaiah, the leader of the opposition, said.
The Congress is being accused of making Mansoor Khan a scapegoat to settle their own internal disputes and the one between Siddaramaiah and Deve Gowda.
The Congress, as per sources, had fielded a second candidate to validate its allegation that the JD(S) was a “B team of the BJP”. The JD(S) too had initially sought the help of the BJP and Congress to support its lone candidate but later stuck with its arch rival, the Congress, and reasoned that both secular parties should come together and keep communal forces at bay.
The argument that the Congress had supported Gowda’s candidature to the Rajya Sabha in 2020 and now it was the turn of the JD(S) to return the favour, only added to the stalemate.
The BJP had earlier announced only two candidates - Kannada actor-turned politician Jaggesh and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, raising the hopes of the JD(S) that it would support the regional outfit and its lone candidate. But the party announced another candidate, Lahar Singh Siroya, later to improve its own tally in the upper house of Parliament and refrain from any alliances at the local level.
“Yes, it is advantage BJP as we have a surplus of 32 votes,” Nirmal Kumar Surana, BJP state vice president, told HT on Friday. He said if all legislators vote for their respective candidates, then the BJP can win on the basis of its additional votes as well as the second preferential votes.
