<p>The Congress will look to offset party general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan’s defeat in Friday’s Rajya Sabha election with its larger goal of alienating the JD(S) ahead of the 2023 Assembly election.</p>.<p>Mansoor’s candidature was designed to put the JD(S) in a spot by testing its "secular" credentials.</p>.<p>In fact, privately, some Congress leaders guessed well before the election that Mansoor would lose. "He was fielded to target the JD(S)," one Congress office-bearer said. This was the first election outing for Mansoor, the son of former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan and a member on the board of Delhi Public Schools.</p>.<p>The Congress wanted JD(S) MLAs to cast "conscience votes" in favour of Mansoor by pitching the cause of secularism. Now, according to sources, the Congress will go to town accusing the JD(S) of not supporting the candidature of a Muslim and helping the BJP win. </p>.<p>The JD(S) could counter this narrative by saying the Congress 'sacrificed' Muslim knowing that the candidate would lose. "That won’t work because the Congress picked a Muslim candidate (K Abdul Jabbar) in the recent MLC elections," a Congress leader said. </p>.<p>The decision to field Mansoor and the subsequent tussle with the JD(S) was seen as Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah's show all the way, demonstrating his clout on decision-making. </p>.<p>Another plus for the Congress is that it managed to get JD(S) Kolar MLA Srinivas Gowda and bring to the fore the disgruntlement among other lawmakers of the regional party. </p>.<p>Rejecting JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy's allegation that the Congress "hijacked" the regional party's MLAs, KPCC president D K Shivakumar said: "We could have hijacked half-a-dozen MLAs. But, there was no need for us to do that." </p>.<p>Not commenting on cross-voting, all that Shivakumar said was that he was satisfied with the votes cast by the party's 69 MLAs. </p>
<p>The Congress will look to offset party general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan’s defeat in Friday’s Rajya Sabha election with its larger goal of alienating the JD(S) ahead of the 2023 Assembly election.</p>.<p>Mansoor’s candidature was designed to put the JD(S) in a spot by testing its "secular" credentials.</p>.<p>In fact, privately, some Congress leaders guessed well before the election that Mansoor would lose. "He was fielded to target the JD(S)," one Congress office-bearer said. This was the first election outing for Mansoor, the son of former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan and a member on the board of Delhi Public Schools.</p>.<p>The Congress wanted JD(S) MLAs to cast "conscience votes" in favour of Mansoor by pitching the cause of secularism. Now, according to sources, the Congress will go to town accusing the JD(S) of not supporting the candidature of a Muslim and helping the BJP win. </p>.<p>The JD(S) could counter this narrative by saying the Congress 'sacrificed' Muslim knowing that the candidate would lose. "That won’t work because the Congress picked a Muslim candidate (K Abdul Jabbar) in the recent MLC elections," a Congress leader said. </p>.<p>The decision to field Mansoor and the subsequent tussle with the JD(S) was seen as Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah's show all the way, demonstrating his clout on decision-making. </p>.<p>Another plus for the Congress is that it managed to get JD(S) Kolar MLA Srinivas Gowda and bring to the fore the disgruntlement among other lawmakers of the regional party. </p>.<p>Rejecting JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy's allegation that the Congress "hijacked" the regional party's MLAs, KPCC president D K Shivakumar said: "We could have hijacked half-a-dozen MLAs. But, there was no need for us to do that." </p>.<p>Not commenting on cross-voting, all that Shivakumar said was that he was satisfied with the votes cast by the party's 69 MLAs. </p>
