BENGALURU: Congress and JDS did not budge from their positions and decided not to go for an alliance to win the fourth Rajya Sabha in the polls held on Friday, seemingly because of their own calculations ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls. KPCC president DK Shivakumar and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah stressing that the party has fielded a minority candidate, Mansur Ali Khan, was a clear indication that the party wants to garner the minority community votes in the Assembly polls. Even during the recent ‘Nava Sankalpa Shibira’, the party had stated it would protect the interests of minority community.
Dialogues at the national and state levels to withdraw their candidates did not yield results as Congress leadership felt it would hurt its interests in the Assembly polls. After the fourth Rajya Sabha seat went to BJP, both Congress and JDS indulged in a blame game to prove their point to the minority community.
After the elections, a miffed Kumaraswamy asserted that JDS will never go with Congress in the future. But the Congress leadership seemed upbeat that it won one seat, and defeated its ‘secular’ rival. The party leadership found no reason to back JDS and even managed to convince the party high command of its decision, sources informed TNIE.
Congress has its eyes set on the Assembly polls as an internal survey gave it an edge in the crucial elections. Letting JDS win an RS seat would have boosted the regional party’s morale in the Old Mysuru region and boomeranged on Congress, especially KPCC chief DK Shivakumar, who is a Vokkaliga trying to emerge as leader of the community, sources said.