Hectic parleys in Congress, BJP for Karnataka RS berths

Two Congress members – B K Hariprasad and Prof M V Rajeev Gowda -- are due to retire on June 25 along with the BJP’s Prabhakar Kore and D Kupendra Reddy of the Janata Dal (Secular) when their terms end.

Venkatesha Babu and Smriti Kak Ramachndran

For election to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, a member would require 44 votes. So the BJP can comfortably have t two members elected, with votes to spare. (PTI)

With four members of the Rajya Sabha retiring this month, the race to replace them has intensified in Karnataka. Potential candidates from both national parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress-- are lobbying their party leaderships for nominations to the Upper house

Two Congress members – B K Hariprasad and Prof M V Rajeev Gowda -- are due to retire on June 25 along with the BJP’s Prabhakar Kore and D Kupendra Reddy of the Janata Dal (Secular) when their terms end.

Given the current composition in the 224-member Karnataka assembly, where the BJP has 117 MLAs, the Congress 68 , JDS 34 and independents three (two seats are vacant), the BJP can have two Rajya Sabha MPs elected and the Congress one – but with extra votes to spare -- and the JDS, if it manages additional votes, one.

For election to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, a member would require 44 votes. So the BJP can comfortably have t two members elected, with votes to spare. Kore, an education baron, is keen for another term, but the BJP is unlikely to nominate him, given that he has already has served two consecutive terms.

Tejaswini, the wife of late former Union minister Ananth Kumar who narrowly missed out on the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat won by her husband for six consecutive terms, is considered to be a key contender.

Ramesh Katti, the brother of BJP’s eight-term MLA Umesh Katti, has publicly declared that chief minister BS Yediyurappa should keep his promise of sending him to the Upper house.

“I have urged the CM to fulfil his promise of (sending me to the RS) he made last year when I was denied the Chikkodi Lok Sabha ticket,” Katti told HT.

A lesser known name doing the rounds as a potential candidate is of Prof M Nagaraj, known as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) ideologue from the northern Karnataka stronghold of the BJP. The BJP state-in-charge Muralidhara Rao himself is seen as a contender for one of the Rajya Sabha seats. Industrialist and media baron Vijay Sankeshwar, a former three-term Lok Sabha member, is also seen to be in the running.

Two surprising names doing the rounds as potential BJP nominees are of Sudha Murthy –philanthropist and the wife of Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy -- and K V Kamath, former chief of ICICI Bank.

A senior BJP leader who did not want to be identified told HT: “Ultimately it will be a call of the party high command in consultation with the chief minister, so all the names doing rounds, while they might have aspirations, only the core committee will ultimately decide.”

For the lone seat the Congress can win, former leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge is seen as the front-runner. The other names being mentioned are of former union ministers K H Muniyappa and Veerpa Moily.

Muniyappa, a seven-term MP, told HT: “I am not an aspirant and would gladly support any choice made by the high command. I am ready to work in the organization to bring the party back to power in the state. My only desire is that those who have stabbed the party in the back and helped BJP come to power should not get rewarded.”

His remarks indicate lingering divisions within the party, which experienced a rebellion last that year that enabled the BJP under Yediyurappa to come back to power in Karnataka.

The Congress would have nearly 24 votes to spare and is likely to support JDS supremo and former PM HD Deve Gowda if he decides to contest.

Political analyst Prof Harish Ramaswamy said Yediyurappa will have to do a tightrope walk to ensure that he keeps all sections in the party happy while choosing the RS candidates.

“Congress and JDS are likely to reach an understanding as it will also enhance further ties between the two parties to jointly take on the BJP in the state,” Ramaswamy said.

A late night meeting last week of over a dozen MLAs from North Karnataka was perceived to be a sign of a brewing rebellion against the Yeddiyurappa government, which is also preparing for the legislative council elections. According to reports, these MLAs met at senior legislator Umesh Katti’s residence. Katti himself has been eyeing a place in the state cabinet, and has also not shied away from seeking a Rajya Sabha berth for his brother.

In Delhi, BJP leaders are not pleased. “Everyone has aspiration to either become a minister or get a ticket to contest. These decisions cannot be taken on the basis of arm twisting. There is a system of the parliamentary board taking decision and that will be followed in every state,” said a BJP functionary in Delhi.

Discord has also been brewing over candidate selection for assembly bypolls in the party units in Madhya Pradesh and over the selection of a new party president in Himachal Pradesh to replace Rajeev Bindal, who stepped down in May after his name was indirectly dragged into a corruption case involving the state health department. In Madhya Pradesh, where the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government made a comeback in March after being out of power for 15 months; disquiet prevails over the possibility of 22 rebel MLAs being selected to contest the bypolls.

“There are a couple of contenders for the president’s post {in HP}; and as is natural, their support groups have been holding meetings. There is however no threat to the state government,” said a BJP leader requesting anonymity.

Political analyst Shirish Kashikar said the disagreements within the BJP were not serious enough to destabilise the party’s state governments.

“Each state unit has its own dynamics, and it is obvious that there will be friction if old party workers are made to compete for positions or tickets with their erstwhile opponents,” he said. “Having said that, in each of these cases the disagreements are not so intense or deep that the opposition can instigate defections or cause the government to fall, as it had happened when the BJP engineered the fall of the Kamal Nath government in MP.”