BENGALURU: Four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka are slated to fall vacant in June and intense lobbying is on among all the three parties. Present MPs Prabhakar Kore (BJP), Kupendra Reddy (JDS), Dr Rajeev Gowda (Cong) and BK Hariprasad (Cong) are set to retire in June after completing their six-year term. When the Congress sent Hariprasad and Rajeev Gowda, it was in power in the state and had 120-plus seats in the Assembly.
It also sent a third candidate KC Ramamurthy, who defected to the BJP a few months ago. But now with the party reduced to just 68 seats, it will not be able to get three seats in the Upper House, and will have to be content with one.
There is now talk of former opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge being chosen, but there is no confirmation whether he will take it. It could be tough for senior Congress leader Hariprasad, who is the party general secretary and a backward caste representative, to get himself renominated. There is no other backward MP from the Congress, but the party is considering Kharge’s candidature considering his stature. The other name doing the rounds is that of former MP V S Ugrappa who is an ST. Leaders from the community have pointed out that an ST has never been a Rajya Sabha member since Independence.
Political circles are also abuzz that JDS supremo Deve Gowda may throw in his hat, with the support of Congress. But officials from both parties refused to confirm this. However, JDS sources said that Gowda will be able to make it with the help of Congress as the JDS has only 34 seats in the Assembly. Under such an eventuality, Kupendra Reddy, who is an RS member at present, would be made an MLC when 13 seats fall vacant in June.
There is also concern that the BJP might persuade JDS members to vote for their candidates, reducing the JDS numbers further. The sources said that the BJP may continue with Prabhakar Kore. Since the party can send another member to the Rajya Sabha, there is intense speculation as to who it could be. It could be party spokesman Go Madhusudan, some sections of the party said.