New Delhi: The meeting between JDS Supremo and former PM HD Devegowda and Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday at the former’s official residence at 5, Safadarjang Lane in New Delhi seems to have worked out in favour of the JDS, which hardly had bargaining power at the state.
With the LS polls are fast approaching, the coalition partners in Karnataka-the Congress and the JDS could not arrive at a consensus over the seat sharing equation and this led the JDS supremo personally rush to New Delhi and hold talks with Gandhi.
The JDS had demanded 12 seats but the Congress leadership in the state said it could leave aside only six seats out of 28 LS seats as the winning ability of the JDS in most constituencies was doubtful.
However, after the meeting with Rahul Gandhi, HDD told media that he had asked for 10 Lok Sabha seats and the modalities will be worked out soon. Gowda’s statement has made the state Congress jittery as it is against giving the JDS not more than six seats. The Congress currently has 10 and JDS has two MPs from the state. The BJP has 16 MPs.
The Congress is against giving away those seats to JDS, which has Congress MPs and the entire seat sharing debate reportedly putting the coalition partners in awkward situation.
The Congress has already agreed to give up Hassan and Mandya Lok Sabha seats, which are currently held by the JD(S), but Gowda is insisting on Tumakur and Chikkaballapura, which is held by the Congress.
Sources say that Gowda is planning to contest from either Tumakuru or Chikkaballapur, which is the safest bet after vacating Hassan in favour of his one grandson Prajwal Revanna and finalising his another grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy for yet another JDS fort Mandya. However, opposed by the Congress for contesting from Tumakuru or Chikkaballapur, sources say that HDD may settle down with Bengaluru North.
However, the news of HDD walking away with ten seats has disturbed the state Congress leaders as they still feel that six seats was the best deal that could be offered to the JDS.
