JD(S) rebels hit out at party leadership

As the polls to the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council from the state inch closer, the rebel group in the JD(S) seems to have got more vocal.

Dissent JD(S) MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan, who has “pledged”, along with four other JD(S) MLAs, to vote for the Congress Rajya Sabha candidate K C Ramamurthy, on Saturday hit back at his party leadership for merely patronising Muslim leaders in the party.

Khan said JD(S) leaders H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy had “yet again” taken a unilateral decision to field B M Farook to the Rajya Sabha polls. “Danish Ali has been a loyal party worker and has been seeking a ticket for several years now. Has the party not given him the ticket because he is poor?” he said.

Another JD(S) MLA Iqbal Ansari told this newspaper that his vote will be for the Congress candidate in the Council, if the party continued to sideline him. According to the sources in the BJP, the party is in touch with the five rebel JD(S) MLAs seeking their support for its second candidate - Lehar Singh - in the Legislative Council polls.

While the BJP and the JD(S) can ensure victory for their first candidate V Somanna and K V Narayanaswamy, respectively, there were talks between the two parties on supporting their second candidate.

As no consensus could be arrived at, the BJP is now approaching the nine independents and also the JD(S) rebel group, sources said. Besides its quota of 15 votes, the BJP needs 14 additional votes to ensure victory to Singh.

However, Khan denied he had been approached by the BJP. “How can I ever support BJP? It’s impossible. These are rumours spread by Kumaraswamy. If my party fails to reach out to me, my vote is for Rizwan Arshad (Congress candidate),” he said.While the polls to the Legislative Council will be held on June 10, the Rajya Sabha elections will be held on June 11.