BENGALURU: With biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha for four seats from Karnataka scheduled for Tuesday, the prestige of three major parties -- ruling Congress, opposition BJP and JDS -- is at stake with the fifth candidate entering the fray.
While it could have been a cakewalk for Congress to wrest three seats, if there was no contest, the BJP-JDS alliance giving the Grand Old Party a run for its money by fielding former RS member Kupendra Reddy. “We have put up the candidate after the BJP leadership and Union Home Minister Amit Shah okayed it,” a JDS leader said. Despite having adequate numbers with 134 MLAs and claiming the support of two independents, Congress is under pressure as it wants to win all the three seats.
To achieve it, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar threw a surprise by offering bouquets to their one-time bete noire and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, who is Gangavathi MLA, on Monday, seeking his support to get the party’s candidate elected. It also sought the support of independents. The death of party Raja Venkatappa Nayak on Sunday has come as a shock to the party. On Monday, Siddaramaiah held the CLP meeting at a hotel. Mock voting was held to show members how to vote and not to invalidate their votes.
Parties issue whips to legislators
They were warned against cross voting as it could lead to their disqualification as MLAs as a party whip has been issued to them. Party candidates Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrashekar were also present.
Straight from the hotel, the MLAs will arrive at Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday morning to take part in polling. BJP too has issued a whip to all its 66 MLAs. The party is likely to allot 46-47 votes to its candidate Narayansa Bhandage, and the remaining 18-19 surplus votes to Kupendra Reddy. BJP state president BY Vijayendra and JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy met on Monday and discussed the strategy to ensure that Kupendra Reddy gives a tough fight to Congress.
But chances of one or two JDS MLAs, including Gurmitkal MLA Sharanagouda Kandakur, abstaining from voting cannot be ruled out, sources said. These disgruntled MLAs cannot just be absent but should give a valid reason. Otherwise, they will face action as the party will most likely file a complaint against them, a JD(S) leader said.
BJP too is zeroing in on two of its dissidents -- former ministers ST Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar, but they are highly unlikely to cast their votes in favour of INDIA bloc, as it could lead to their disqualification as MAs. The MLAs, after making their choice, have to show their ballot to the authorised agents of respective parties before dropping it into the box. Congress has 134 MLAs and three candidates in fray. It can win two seats with ease as it requires 45 MLA votes for each seat.
To win the third seat, it is depending on independent MLAs Latha Mallikarjun and Puttaswamy Gowda and has also sought the support of KRPP MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy and Sarvodaya Karnataka Party MLA Darshan Puttannaiah. For the GOP, absence of one or two JDS and BJP MLAs may come as a blessing.
BJP with 66 MLAs can win one seat comfortably. It will allot its surplus votes to the JDS candidate to try to win the seat. Kupendra Reddy’s win depends on the backing of independents and cross-voting from Congress MLAs. Another plan is to allot second preferential votes of BJP MLAs to Kupendra Reddy which will come into count only if the third candidate from Congress falls short of votes. Polling will be held between 9 am and 4 pm and counting will start at 5 pm.
