Bengaluru: Amid the hard bargaining put forward by the JD(S) supermo HD Deve Gowda for the Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, rumours are doing the rounds that he plans to contest from Bangalore North constituency. While, former minister and senior Congress leader HM Revanna had also on Tuesday expressed his interest to contest from the same seat.
Speaking to media persons, Revanna expressed his aspirations for contesting from Bangalore north from a Congress ticket. “I have a hold over that region. Last time I contested from Chanapatana only because Rahul Gandhi had asked me to, but this time I have conveyed that I would like to contest from Bangalore North.”
Revanna, however, didn’t know how his party would react to his statement or its implications on the coalition government
The seat eyed by both the Janata Dal (Secular) supremo and Revanna was won by the BJP during the last two terms and is currently held by DV Sadanand Gowda.
Pressing his demand twice in less than a week, Deve Gowda has aksed for at least 12 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state putting its coalition partner, the Congress, under pressure.
The JD(S) supremo didn’t divulge many details on the seat sharing arrangement, but said that the Congress party high command as well as coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah would be ironing out the differences soon.
The JD(S) had won 2 of the 28 seats in 2014, that of Hassan and Mandya but is now eyeing Mysuru, Tumkuru, Chikkbalapur, Bangalore north as well as trying to make in-roads in northern districts of Raichur, Vijaypura and Bidar.
Going by the 2:1 formula of seat-sharing, the JD(S) would get 9-10 seats, hence Deve Gowda doesn’t feel he’s asking for much.
If the Congress doesn’t play to JD(S) demand, would the coalition partners then go in for a ‘friendly fight’? Or would this fight help transfer the votes to the BJP instead? With the Lok Sabha election less than 6 months away, it’s time the coalition partners chalk out a plan.
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