BENGALURU: Unable to zero in on a candidate for the Shivamogga Parliamentary seat, Congress is now warming up to the idea of giving up the seat to JD(S). Congress Legislative party chief Siddaramaiah and JD(S)’ Danish Ali had announced that Congress will contest Jamkhandi Assembly seat, Ballari and Shivamogga Parliamentary seats and JD(S) will put up candidates in Mandya Parliamentary seat and Ramanagara Assembly seat.
However, Congress is under tremendous pressure to give up the seat to JD(S) to allow former legislator Madhu Bangarappa contest against B S Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday said that the seat was still open for discussion, fuelling speculations of Congress giving up on another seat to JD(S).
“Congress is still the strongest party to take on the BJP in Shivamogga. As of now, Congress candidate will contest from there but we have to see where the political situation takes us. We will take a call on it soon,” Rao said. Siddaramaiah is said to have lobbied hard to retain the Shivamogga seat from JD(S) when the coalition partners sat down for seat-sharing discussions.
The lack of interest from own partymen is said to be another worry for the Congress that is yet to finalise its candidates for Ballari. “It is difficult to manage finances for an election when the term is barely a few months,” a Congress ticket aspirant from Shivamogga said.
Congress has been attempting to convince former Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa and former minister Kimmane Ratnakar to contest from the seat but to no avail. With no suitable candidates, the party is now having second thoughts about fielding anyone from Shivamogga. Ballari is a different headache with each legislator of the Congress suggesting different names. Building consensus among its legislator has become the party’s biggest challenge.