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Congress asked for support in Rajya Sabha polls, says Kumaraswamy
Randeep Singh Surjewala (AICC in charge of Karnataka) spoke to me and asked if the JD(S) could transfer its second preferential votes to the Congress for Rajya Sabha elections, Kumaraswamy said.
Former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday that senior leaders of the Congress had approached him to forge an alliance for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, “to help keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay for the fourth seat”.
“Yesterday, Randeep Singh Surjewala (AICC in charge of Karnataka) spoke to me and asked if the JD(S) could transfer its second preferential votes to the Congress. But according to the calculations, Congress will get eliminated in the first round of voting since they have just 25 surplus votes. So, I told him yesterday that in such a case, I will try to convince my party to give you their second preferential votes, and you do the same with your party and let one of the two winners defeat the BJP. He said that he will send some leaders to talk to me about this,” Kumaraswamy said.
He also added that it was the BJP who had initially backed former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s candidature to the Rajya Sabha in 2020, after which Congress also decided not to field a candidate.
People associated with the JD(S) said that former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda had reached out to the Congress’s top leadership for its support in the Rajya Sabha elections before the BJP.
The BJP has 32 additional votes after it elects two of its candidates – Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaggesh – and retains the remaining for Lahar Singh Siroya. However, each candidate requires 45 votes to win, and the BJP will require its second preferential votes to get closer to the 45-mark.
The JD(S) has 32 votes and was confident that its candidate, Kupendra Reddy, would have been elected as, at the time, both national parties had not decided to field an additional candidate for the fourth and final seat. Moreover, at least five of its legislators are likely to abstain from the elections as they have decided to part ways with the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party, people aware of the developments said.
The Congress has fielded Jairam Ramesh as its first-choice candidate and will have 25 additional votes and is trying to get the JD(S) to back its second candidate, Mansour Ali Khan, on the premise that “all secular parties should unite and keep the BJP at bay”.
People aware of the developments said that the Congress national leadership is not leaving room for local leaders to strike deals with their counterparts from other parties, which would potentially dent their chances in the elections.
“We appeal to all political parties to cast their conscience vote for us. We have helped others (read: JD(S)). Siddaramaiah and I have appealed. Do not waste your vote by trying to stick to prestige. If you are secular, then exhibit your secularism,” DK Shivakumar, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, said on Tuesday.
The BJP in Karnataka is leaving nothing to chance in the June 10 elections for the Rajya Sabha and spares no room for any backroom negotiations with other parties in the state ahead of the assembly elections next year.
Political analysts said that with the elections so close, the three major political parties –BJP, Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) – have fielded a candidate for the fourth seat in the upper house of parliament even though none of them has adequate votes for the same.
“Both Congress and JD(S) seats are only because of the positioning for the elections. It has nothing to do with winning the Rajya Sabha,” Narendar Pani, political analyst and faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), said.
While the JD(S) and Congress are trying to team up to defeat the BJP, there have been enough instances of other alliances that are not particularly in line with their respective ideologies.
It was no secret that a section of the Congress helped the BJP-backed independent, Sumalatha Amarnath, in the Mandya Lok Sabha elections in 2019 to defeat Nikhil, Kumaraswamy’s son.
Similarly, the JD(S) joined hands with the BJP at the state and local level to keep the Congress out in several elections over the years.
“In Karnataka, it not secular versus non-secular but it is caste-based which the Congress has finally recognised that, on the other hand, as far as the BJP is concerned, they will go along with JD(S) as the minor partner can come into it as and when required and provide the numbers.,” Pani said.
