Bengaluru: The JDS legislature party meeting held on Friday unanimously decided to field party supremo HD Deve Gowda as the fourth candidate in the June 19 Rajya Sabha election. But there is no clarity whether Deve Gowda will contest.
In Karnataka, the elections will be held for four Rajya Sabha seats. BJP will win two seats easily while Congress has the numbers to win another seat. For the fourth seat, JDS and Congress need to join hands, else BJP can win this seat also.
Speaking to the reporters, JDS leader, former CM HD Kumaraswamy announced that party requested HD Deve Gowda to contest in the election. ‘But he has yet to give his nod for this,” he said.
According to the sources, Deve Gowda is not keen to join hands with Congress to go to the Rajya Sabha. “His fear is that if he gets elected to Rajya Sabha, he may be criticized for doing back door politics,” said his associates. A group of legislators also met Gowda at his residence later to convince him to contest.
While the suspense over Gowda contesting Rajya Sabha elections continues, his son and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy also said that the JD(S) legislators have been unanimous in seeking his entry to the Upper House.
Speaking to reporters after the JD(S)LP meeting here, Kumaraswamy said that Gowda had neither shown interest in contesting nor has said anything about it. “However, our legislators feel that because of his hard work over the years, and in the prevailing circumstances in the country, his presence is needed in Rajya Sabha.” Though there is pressure from party legislators, no decision has been made yet, he added.
As regards the numbers required to elect Gowda to the Rajya Sabha, Kumaraswamy said “When the time comes we will see and we will have to discuss this only when Gowda contests. Let us see later,” he added. To a question on the developments in BJP over the leadership issue, he refused to comment, saying it ‘did not matter’ to him
