'Alliance for LS polls depends on how Cong treats us'

Entering into a pre-poll alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls will depend on how the JD(S) is treated, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said Tuesday.

“The agenda is there,” he told reporters when asked about the JD(S) forging a pre-poll alliance with the Congress. “But let’s see how the Congress will treat the JD(S),” he said.

This remark comes a day after a section of Congress exerted pressure on the party’s leadership to take the Hassan or Mandya Lok Sabha seats, which are JD(S) strongholds. The Hassan seat is currently held by JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda whereas Mandya was represented by C S Puttaraju of the JD(S), until he won the Assembly polls.

While AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal has already announced that the Congress and the JD(S) will fight the Lok Sabha polls together, the state leaders have maintained that not much has progressed in terms of finalising the modalities of the pre-poll alliance. A section of Congress leaders thinks allying with the JD(S) may not be in the party’s best interests.

Kumaraswamy, however, was positive on the effort that is underway to stitch an anti-BJP alliance - the Mahagathbandhan. “That will continue,” he said.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao, meanwhile, said that the priority for the party is to think about how it can win maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha election. Karnataka has 28 seats.

Rao also reiterated the warning that no leader should wash dirty linen in public. “The party will not accept personal attacks against leaders and criticism of the Congress-JD(S) coalition,” Rao said, justifying the show-cause notice issued to senior leaders K B Koliwad and K N Rajanna.

Rao clarified that former chief minister Siddaramaiah is not against the Congress wanting to fight the Lok Sabha polls with the JD(S). “The high command has already decided. Also, Siddaramaiah is not opposed to the coalition that we have,” he stated.