Bengaluru: According to reports, the Congress party has decided to give up the Shivamogga Lok Sabha Constituency and are fulling backing the JD(S) so as to get a suitable candidate to fill the position, as none of their party candidates showed any interest in contesting in the elections. With this development, there will be only two contenders in the fray, JD(S)’s Madhu Bangarappa and BJP’s B Y Ragavendra, son of BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa.
JD(S) president HD Devegowda has asked Madhu, who is currently on a foreign tour, to return as soon as possible and minister DK Shivakumar has also had a talk with him on the same.
The party has also announced that if Madhu refuses to contest in the election, then they would field popular Sandalwood actor Shivrajkumar’s wife, Geetha Shivrajkumar, with her husband’s permission, as a candidate.
During the pre-poll alliance between the coalition partners, it was decided that the Congress party would contest from the Shivamogga and Ballary constituencies and the JD(S) from Mandya. However, as none of the candidates suggested by the Congress party was willing to contest in the upcoming elections, the seat was offered to the JD(S) party.
