BENGALURU: In a late reverse swing on the political pitch, which has taken many by surprise, former allies Congress and JDS are believed to have reached an agreement on fielding a consensus candidate for the December 12 Rajya Sabha bypoll. While some names are being tossed up, the one that is being talked about the most is that of Mallikarjun Kharge.
The senior Congress leader, who was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, has been instrumental in the formation of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government in Maharashtra. When asked about his possible candidature, Kharge cryptically replied, “One should not aspire for every position.”
The development could queer the pitch for BJP nominee K C Ramamurthy, who so far looked like he would sail through effortlessly. The former senior police officer, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the Congress, had resigned on October 16 and joined the BJP, necessitating the bypoll. Ramamurthy has two-and-half-years of his tenure remaining, which ends in June 2022.
The Congress and JDS together now have 100 seats (66+34) in the State Assembly after 17 MLAs from both parties resigned. Their collective number earlier was 117 (80+ 37) while the BJP has 106 members (105+1).
For the saffron party, a lot will depend on the outcome of the December 5 Assembly bypolls.
If the BJP does not win the minimum of six seats that it needs to save its government, it could become difficult for Ramamurthy to get re-elected from a House of 222 members. Two Assembly segments, R R Nagar and Maski, are still unrepresented as the issue is before the court. Experts pointed out that if the Congress and JDS work together unitedly in the 15 Assembly segments, where both parties have a considerable vote share of over 57 -60%, it could swing matters in their favour.