We should have gone in for pre-poll pact with JD(S): RVD

The party is now regretting that it should have had a ‘formal understanding’ with the JD(S) to tackle its rival, the BJP.

 KPCC president R V Deshpande feels that the Congress would have won five or six more seats if it had a formal understanding with the JD(S).

He said that the party has lost four-five seats by a thin margin as secular votes were divided between JD(S) and the Congress. The party would have put up a good performance had all the secular votes favoured Congress, he felt.

While the Congress denies any ‘tacit understanding’ with JD(S), it is true that there was such an arrangement. “We are thankful to the JD(S) for not fielding candidates in Shimoga, Bellary and few other constituencies,” Deshpande said.

The KPCC president felt the earliest revamp of the party organisation as the immediate necessity to strengthen the party’s base. He revealed that a decision in this regard will be taken soon.

Declining to comment when asked whether the party went wrong in selecting candidates, Deshpande said that the high command selected the candidates. “I don’t want to comment on that. However, it was felt that the party should have finalised the candidates much early.”

Congress had won in eight constituencies in the 2004 elections and has failed to retain the seats this time. The party, which suffered a major setback in the by-elections to eight Assembly constituencies last year, was in dire need of a comeback, which however has not come about. It has won only six seats. Both Manjunath Kunnur and H T Sangliana who hopped to the Congress after supporting the UPA over nuclear deal have failed to make it to the Parliament. The party did not win even a single seat in Bangalore.
However, Congress has sent at least four leaders, who are senior enough to find a place in the Union Cabinet. The six winners include two former CMs - Dharam Singh and Veerappa Moily, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Mallikarjun Kharge, and K H Muniyappa.

The Congress has increased its strength in the Assembly by retaining the Bidar Assembly constituency in the by-election. Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli has resigned from the constituency to contest for Bidar Lok Sabha seat as a BJP candidate. Congress has won the constituency in the by-election.