Political strategy behind ceding seats to JD(S): Dinesh

The Congress ceding three out of five seats that face bypoll on November 3 is a strategic move to defeat the BJP, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Monday.

“It’s not that the Congress doesn’t have candidates. This is part of a political strategy,” Rao told reporters, after formally announcing that the party would cede the Shimoga Lok Sabha bypoll seat to JD(S).

Earlier, the Congress had decided to contest three seats - Bellary, Shimoga (Lok Sabha) and Jamkhandi (Assembly).

The grand old party will now field candidates in Bellary and Jamkhandi only.

“Although the Congress is strong in Shimoga, it has been decided to let the JD(S) field a candidate here to defeat the BJP,” Rao said, rejecting the notion that the party had failed to identify a strong candidate for the bypoll.

“In the recent Assembly elections, the Congress bagged 4.28 lakh votes, the BJP got 5.83 lakh votes and the JD(S) got 2.51 lakh votes. Still, the the role of the candidates becomes important. The Congress-JD(S) coalition wants to win as many seats as possible,” he said.

Rao also brushed aside questions on whether the Congress was losing its identify in the coalition.

“How do we lose identity? The Congress will play a big role in the coalition. Even a JD(S) victory will contribute towards achieving the common goal, which is to defeat the BJP.”