BENGALURU: Getting a former Prime Minister re-elected is now an edge-of-seat thriller. Although JDS leader HD Deve Gowda received rousing support for his Rajya Sabha candidature from his 34 MLAs at the JDLP meeting on Friday, and the party was expected to announce Gowda as nominee, things did not go according to script. Surprisingly, Deve Gowda refrained from saying the final ‘I do’.
The 87-year-old veteran of many elections knows full well that with 34 MLAs, he does not have the numbers to ensure he wins, and will be dependent on the Congress and BJP. Gowda, who was seen in a video conference with former UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, shares a good equation with the BJP too.
Gowda’s predicament ensues from the fact that apart from shortage of numbers, his party is, by past precedent, good hunting ground for the larger parties. In the last RS polls, Siddaramaiah’s Congress managed to get a third candidate, K C Ramamurthy, elected by getting JDS MLAs to cross-vote for him.
The JDS was constrained to take disciplinary action against the MLAs — N Cheluvarayaswamy, Zameer Ahmed, HC Balakrishna and others — who finally defected to the Congress. Rumours of other considerations abounded for this switch, but nothing was proved. Sources say that a similar mood exists, with the JDS apprehensive about the loyalty of a group of MLAs from within its ranks. That is the reason for Gowda to toe the line of caution.
Some sources explained that the BJP, which is hard-pressed for numbers, has still not announced its candidates and should it name a third candidate, the party can easily slice through the JDS and take away numbers. The Congress has ensured support for his candidature with its extra numbers, but a cautious Gowda is keeping all options open, with the shock defeat in the Tumkur LS polls still on his mind.
Interestingly, the RS official retiree from JDS, Kupendra Reddy, is not being considered.
Siddu bats for Kharge, no decision yet on surplus votes
Mysuru: Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has supported the Congress’ decision to field veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the party’s candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Friday approved Kharge’s candidature. “Kharge is the senior-most leader in the Congress and has served as the Congress floor leader in Parliament. I conveyed my support for Kharge in front of AICC general secretary K C Venugopal,” Siddaramaiah said. Asked about whether the Congress would field the second candidate or support the JDS as they have enough surplus votes, Siddaramaiah only said that the KPCC would abide by the party high command’s decision.