BENGALURU: Congress’s coalition partner Janata Dal (Secular) plans to field its candidates from 12 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka during the 2019 general elections. Seat-sharing between the two parties is expected to be finalized by January 15 and JD (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda is confident of getting what the party wants. But Congress is guarded in its response.
“We are demanding 12 seats and I see no hurdles in getting it. We will hold talks with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and finalize seat-sharing before January 15,” Gowda told media persons on Saturday. Former CM Siddaramaiah’s home district Mysuru, Tumakuru, which is represented by Congress MP in the Lok Sabha, and Bengaluru North are among the seats the regional party is keen to field its candidates, apart from its pocket-boroughs Hassan and Mandya.
AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal said, “Deve Gowda is a senior leader and he is talking about what his party wants. Seat-sharing will be finalized after discussions. In coalition, it will be give and take between both parties and we will sit and discuss it.”
According to Gowda, 12 seats that the party is asking for will be from Old Mysuru region, Hyderabad -Karnataka, Mumbai-Karnataka and other regions too. “It will be decided only during the talks and we will be able to finalize it without any hassles,” he said.
While party leaders are keen that Gowda contest from Bengaluru North, the former PM said he is yet to decide on contesting the elections and will do so after consulting his party leaders. He, however, announced that his grandson Prajwal Revanna will be the party candidate from Hassan, which he currently represents in the Lok Sabha.
Stating that the notification for the LS polls is likely to be issued in February last week or first week of March, Gowda said there is no time to rest and he will soon start touring the state.
Gowda said the party will conduct conventions focused at various communities like minorities and backward classes. He has convened a meeting of party leaders in Bengaluru on January 3 to discuss all issues related to the party, including election preparations, appointments to boards and corporations and inducting two ministers from the party into the state cabinet.
Trying to play down the tussle between the coalition partners, especially over appointments to boards and corporations, Gowda said some appointments were withheld due to technical reasons as the government has to follow certain guidelines while appointing heads to institutions like pollution control board. “There is no problem between the coalition partners. Appointments to all boards and corporations be will made together,” he said.