Congress, JDS try to convince each other for Rajya Sabha seat

June 2, 2022

With just hours to go for the withdrawal of nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls, Congress and JDS were busy trying to convince each other to support their candidate in the crucial elections. Congress and JDS do not have the numbers to win the fourth Rajya Sabha seat on their own strength and have to depend on the other party’s support. Congress has 70 seats and does not have the numbers to send a second candidate, while JDS with just 32 MLAs cannot even send one candidate to the Upper House. Congress sought support from JDS, arguing that it is a national and secular party, while JDS tried to convince Congress saying it is a regional secular party with only one seat in the RS and needs one more seat. The negotiations are also difficult as the two parties don’t trust each other.
If Congress’ Mansur Ali Khan withdraws and his party supports JDS candidate Kupendra Reddy, JDS will win or vice-versa. If both don’t come to an agreement and decide to slug it out, BJP’s third candidate and MLC Lehar Singh Siroya will breast the victory tape as the saffron party has more votes than its two opponents.

On Tuesday, JDS MLC TA Sharavana called on Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah requesting him to get Mansur Ali Khan to withdraw. But the former chief minister requested Sharavana to get JDS candidate Kupendra Reddy to pull out, saying Congress needs the numbers in the Upper House and that JDS being a secular party should support Mansur Ali Khan from the minority community.

Congress supporting JDS is not new as it came to the aid of HD Deve Gowda when his party faced a similar situation two years ago and got him elected to the Rajya Sabha.
But their relationship soured after JDS allied with BJP to get its MLC Basavraj Horatti elected as chairman of the Legislative Council. A confident BJP MLC and general secretary Ravi Kumar told TNIE, “If no one withdraws, then the BJP candidate will automatically win because of sheer numbers.”Asked if BJP will withdraw, he said, “Certainly not. We will explore all legitimate options to win because we have sufficient votes to get all the three elected.’’