Disagreements between the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) or JD (S) continue over the Lok Sabha seat sharing in Karnataka even as the coordination committee of their ruling coalition in the state is expected to meet on Monday to discuss the issue, according to people aware of the developments.
The seat distribution has been contentious particularly in the state’s southern Old Mysuru region, where the two parties have been direct rivals. The Congress is willing to give Mandya and Hassan seats in the region to the JD (S) as it did not win even a single assembly seat in these areas in 2018 assembly elections.
But former Union minister MH Ambareesh’s widow, Sumalatha Ambareesh, has staked her claim for Mandya even as the Congress has offered her the Bengaluru South constituency.
Ambareesh, who passed away in 2018, was a three-time MP from Mandya.
The Congress is reluctant to give up the Mysuru seat, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won in 2014, even though it won only one of the eight assembly segments under the constituency in the assembly elections. The JD (S) won three segments in Mysuru while the BJP four. The JD (S) has also staked claims for Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Raichur even as the Congress won the seats in 2014.
A JD (S) leader, who is part of the negotiations between the two parties, said the Congress has no claim over Mandya and Hassan as it lost all the assembly segments in those constituencies in 2018. “In Chikkaballapur, [former union minister] Veerappa Moily won last time because [current chief minister] HD Kumaraswamy contested and split the anti-Congress vote,” he said. “In Tumakuru, Congress party is completely faction-ridden, which is expected to result in the loss of incumbent MP...”
{{/usCountry}}A JD (S) leader, who is part of the negotiations between the two parties, said the Congress has no claim over Mandya and Hassan as it lost all the assembly segments in those constituencies in 2018. “In Chikkaballapur, [former union minister] Veerappa Moily won last time because [current chief minister] HD Kumaraswamy contested and split the anti-Congress vote,” he said. “In Tumakuru, Congress party is completely faction-ridden, which is expected to result in the loss of incumbent MP...”
{{/usCountry}}In Chitradurga, too, the Congress suffered a setback with the BJP making major inroads, winning five of the eight assembly segments.
A Congress leader said the party would not agree to cede too much ground to the JD(S). “The probability of victory will be the only criteria for seat sharing as our leader [former chief minister] Siddaramaiah has made amply clear,” he said. “This means that we will, of course, have a strong claim to retain seats that we won in 2014.”
Additionally, the leader pointed out the party had on Saturday welcomed Thippeswamy, a former BJP MLA from Chitradurga district, saying this was part of the party’s strategy to get its candidate re-elected.