Cong, JD(S) to field consensus candidates for bypolls

The Congress-JD(S) combine and the BJP on Wednesday swung into action to make preparations to face the upcoming byelections to Chincholi (SC reserved) and Kundagol Assembly constituencies.

State Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao is understood to have held preliminary talks with Chief Minister Kumaraswamy on the bypolls. The two leaders agreed upon fielding consensus candidates in both the seats to defeat the BJP. The KPCC has convened a meeting of the party leaders from Kalaburagi and Dharwad districts on Thursday in Bengaluru to shortlist candidates.

The BJP has directed its Kalaburagi and Dharwad units to propose probable names of candidates by Thursday. The state unit has convened the core committee meeting on Thursday in Bengaluru where discussion on finalising the candidates will be held, BJP state general secretary Arvind Limbavali said.

Byelections to the two seats are scheduled for May 19, and April 29 is the last date for filing nomination papers. Bypoll to Kundagol was necessitated due to the death of C S Shivalli of the Congress. Chincholi seat became vacant following the resignation of Dr Umesh Jadhav, who joined the BJP to contest parliamentary elections from Gulbarga seat.

The byelection results are likely to have a bearing on the stability of Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Its going to be a tough and direct contest between the Congress and the BJP as the JD(S) does not have a strong base in both the constituencies. In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had lost both the seats by a narrow margin - 19,212 votes in Chincholi and 634 votes in Kundagol.

Probable candidates

Sunil Valyapure, who had lost against Jadhav in 2018, is seeking the ticket from the BJP from Chincholi. But Jadhav wants his bother Ramachandra Jadhav to contest the bypoll. For Kundagol, C S Ishwargoud and M R Patil are among the ticket aspirants in the BJP. Iswargoud lost to Shivalli in 2018.

The Congress is said to be planning to field late Shivalli’s wife in Kundagol. In Chincholi, local leaders Babu Rao Chavan and Subash Rathod are seeking the ticket from the party.