Lobbying begins for RS seats

Members of the Upper House of Parliament elected from Karnataka whose terms are set to end are M Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) , B K Hariprasad and Oscar Fernandes (Cong) and M A M Ramaswamy.

Elections are scheduled for June 17. The last date for making nominations is June 7 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is June 10, as per the schedule of events issued by the Election Commission.

With its 115 members, the BJP will comfortably win two seats. The Congress with 74 members, will win a seat. The JD (S) on its own cannot win even a single seat, but its votes can decide the fourth seat. It is to be seen whether the JD (S) and the Congress will join hands to win the fourth seat or if “resourceful” Independents will get the ‘surplus’ votes of the JD (S), Congress and the Independents.

A section of the BJP leaders are strongly opposed to a third RS term for Venkaiah Naidu. The inexorable decline of the BJP in Andhra Pradesh has come in handy for Naidu’s detractors to question the logic of accommodating him in Karnataka.   

In the BJP circles, the names making the rounds are former Union Minister V Dhananjay Kumar, businessman Dayananda Pai, Legal Advisor to the Chief Minister Diwakar, senior RSS leader Vaman Murthy, former MLA Pramila Nesargi, BJP worker Sarojini Muthanna, and former Union Minister of State Thirunavukkarasu.

As for the Congress, its first choice will be Oscar Fernandes. Other names being mentioned are that of B K Hariprasad, R V Deshpande and Abdul Wahab.  Within the JD (S), there seems to be a difference of opinion between H D Kumaraswamy who is not keen on fielding a candidate, and his father Deve Gowda.

The son is exploring the possibility of having a tie-up with the Congress for the quid pro quo of getting two of his partymen getting elected to the Legislative Council.  The elections to seven seats of the council will be held on June 10.