Ruling BJP can win 2 easily, Cong can win 1, and JDS needs cross-party ‘help’
BENGALURU:
With just around a fortnight left for polls to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, the three major political parties are yet to finalise candidates.
The four seats fall vacant on June 25 with the retirement of Rajeev Gowda and B K Hariprasad of the Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of the JDS. The polls are on June 19, and June 9 is the last date for filing nominations.
The ruling BJP is best placed in the contest, as with 117 members (including the Speaker), it can bag 2 of the 4 seats. The party’s core committee meeting on Saturday is likely to discuss candidates and forward names to the central leadership.
While Prabhakar Kore is seeking another term, former Union Minister Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini and party general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Muralidhar Rao are also among the names doing the rounds.
MLA Umesh Katti is lobbying hard for an RS seat for his brother Ramesh Katti. Last week, he had hosted a ‘meal’ for a group of MLAs at his residence, sparking rumours of dissidence within the BJP. On Thursday, the brothers met the CM and reportedly lobbied for an RS seat for Ramesh.
Meanwhile, some within the state BJP feel the central leadership will itself pick the candidates.
As for the state Congress, it has 68 MLAs and can win one seat easily. Senior leaders are likely to meet soon to decide on the name of the candidate, and on whether to whether to support the JDS for another seat.
Former Union minister Mallikarjun Kharge is the favourite, but other aspirants include former Union ministers Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa, Muddahanume Gowda (who gave up the Tumkur LS seat for Deve Gowda as the coalition’s joint candidate), and even the retiring Congress RS members.
The JDS with just 34 members in the state assembly cannot win a seat on its own, as a minimum of 44 votes is required for one seat, and will need Congress or BJP support.
The Congress is likely to support former PM and JDS supremo Deve Gowda, and will want a quid pro quo in the legislative council polls.
The JDS legislature party is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss the issue, and party sources say that as Gowda has not indicated yet his intention to contest, other names may also come up.
Meanwhile, lobbying is also on within the BJP for elections to seven seats of the Legislative Council from the Assembly later this month.
Former MLA MTB Nargaraj, who defected from the Congress to the BJP and lost the assembly by-polls, and A H Vishwanath, who defected from the JDS and also lost the bypolls, reportedly met the CM to push their case for a Council seat.
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