Karnataka Legislative Council polls: Congress fields K C Kondaiah to ‘expose’ JD(S)

The Congress on Thursday decided to field senior leader K C Kondaiah as its candidate for the election to the Legislative Council deputy chairperson’s post despite knowing that his chances of winning are bleak.

Kondaiah filed his nomination papers after his candidature was approved in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held earlier in the day.

The BJP’s M K Pranesh also filed his papers for the January 29 election in which all MLCs will vote.

The JD(S) has decided to back the BJP and help Pranesh win.

“JD(S) goes to town claiming they're secularists. Let their true colours be exposed,” CLP leader Siddaramaiah told reporters. “We are confident that our candidate will get conscience votes.”

According to reports, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar was not in favour of fielding a candidate for the deputy chairperson’s post, but Siddaramaiah insisted.

“We know we can’t win. It’s just like how we fielded B K Hariprasad for the Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson’s post,” Opposition Chief Whip Ajay Singh told DH.

During the 2018 Assembly elections, the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi had accused the JD(S) of being the BJP’s ‘B’ team. “Now, we will know. Should we not see whose colour is what? That’s why we decided to field a candidate for the deputy chairperson’s post,” Siddaramaiah said.