JD(S) may abstain, Cong struggles to hold its flock
The JD(S) in all likelihood will abstain from voting at the crucial bypoll to the Legislative Council on Thursday, thus crushing the hopes of Congress to defeat the BJP candidate - Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda.
The JD(S) had not taken any decision on its stand in the bypoll till late Wednesday evening, nor was there any indication of the party issuing a whip to its MLAs to cast their votes. The party has 26 legislators. With just 71 members, the Congress was banking on the support of the JD(S) to give a tough fight to Sadananda Gowda, if not defeat him.
Party supremo H D Deve Gowda was of the firm view that the JD(S) should not antagonise its Vokkaliga vote bank by defeating Sadananda Gowda, who also belongs to the same community. Besides, Gowda believed that Sadananda Gowda’s defeat would only benefit former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who is waiting in the wings to recapture the post which he vacated reluctantly. A few MLAs, it is learnt, are even ready to cast their votes in favour of Sadananda Gowda, if Yeddyurappa and his loyalists try to play any trick at the time of polling.
The Congress, on its part, appeared to have resigned itself to the fact that its candidate Anand Gaddedevaramath stands very little chance of emerging victorious. However, the party issued a whip to all its MLAs to compulsorily cast their votes in Thursday’s byelection, hoping against hope that the JD(S) would decide to extend its support at the last minute.
Earlier in the day, party heads including Karnataka in-charge Madhusudhan Mistry, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC President G Parameshwara held a closed door meeting with Gaddedevaramath in a private hotel.
As many as 21 legislators stayed away from the Congress legislature party meeting held in the evening. However, some of the Congress MLAs who had threatened to join the Nationalist Congress Party - B C Patil and Prakash Hukkeri to name a few - attended the meeting.
Addressing the media, Siddaramaiah said that his party had sent many feelers to the JD(S) and the Independent MLAs. He said that the 21 MLAs had given prior notice of their absence, and that he was confident about they participating in the voting on Thursday.
While victory seems like a distant dream, Congress is jittery about cross-voting by its members. In such an event, it will be a humiliating defeat for the Congress. Sources in the party said that the party is now focusing on ensuring that all the 71 votes are cast in favour of Gaddedevaramath. This by itself will be a challenge for the party.
