BJP, JD(S) join hands to help Independent win MLC elections

The BJP and JD(S) are likely to sink their differences to help an Independent candidate become a member of the Legislative Council.

Also, a Congress leader is likely to switch his loyalty to the JD(S) to become a Rajya Sabha member.

Businessman D U Mallikarjun, who filed his papers as an Independent for the Council elections from the Assembly on Saturday, is likely to get the support of the BJP and JD(S). Mallikarjun had unsuccessfully contested as a BJP candidate from the Shantinagar seat in the 2013 Assembly elections.

Kumaraswamy, who accompanied Mallikarjun whenSadananda Gowda  he filed his papers, said the party has a surplus of 11 votes in the Assembly, while the BJP has 15 extra votes. Mallikarjun has become the acceptable candidate for both the parties, he said. To win the seat, a minimum of 25 votes are required.

The JD(S) will field one more candidate. The Council elections are being held for a total of seven seats.

The Congress is yet to announce its candidates.

The two BJP leaders who filed nomination papers on Saturday are: Eshwarappa for the Council elections and Prabhakar Kore for the Rajya Sabha elections. A host of BJP leaders, including Union Minister Ananth Kumar accompanied Kore, to the returning officer’s chamber in Vidhana Soudha, where the nominations were filed.

Kupendra Reddy, who is with the Congress, filed his nomination papers as the JD(S) candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections. This, after the Congress failed to respond to his request for a ticket to contest the elections.

Reddy, a businessman, had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections in 2008 as the Congress nominee from Bommanahalli.

The JD(S) has 40 MLAs, while the required number of votes to win a Rajya Sabha seat is a minimum of 45. The JD(S) has prepared the ground to garner votes of ‘friends’ in other parties.

Reddy is a close associate of the Deve Gowda family for decades. JD(S) floor leader in the Assembly H D Kumaraswamy said, “If we do not field a candidate, we would have to explain to the voters as to why we did not, despite having 40 MLAs. We have just two members in Lok Sabha. So, we decided to field a candidate.”

Sources in JD(S) said Reddy has ‘friends’ in all parties. Hence, he can manage to get the required numbers.

In addition, the party wanted to checkmate Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is planning to field a third candidate from the Congress for the Rajya Sabha elections.

The Congress, on its strength, can win two seats and will be left with a surplus votes of 32. It would require a minimum of 13 more votes to win the third seat. The Congress would have liked to bank on JD(S) votes.

However, Siddaramaiah was not in favour of joining hands with the JD(S). Hence, he plans to push the candidature of Channa Reddy, a realtor. The JD(S) presumes that the Congress may not compete for the third seat, with Kupendra Reddy becoming the JD(S) candidate.

In case the Congress takes the risk of fielding a candidate for a third seat, the possibility of the first two candidates of the party losing cannot be ruled out, the JD(S) feels.

The Congress, during the last Council elections, faced embarrassment following the defeat of its official candidate Iqbal Saradagi, while Independent candidate Byrati Suresh, who was projected as Siddaramaiah’s choice, managed to win.

JD(S) MLAs H D Revanna and Y S V Datta accompanied Kupendra Reddy while filing the nomination papers in the Vidhana Soudha on Saturday.