Seat-sharing for LS polls not discussed: Byre Gowda

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said coalition partners JD(S) and Congress would enter into a pre-poll alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019, but there was no clarity on seat sharing as yet.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, Byre Gowda said the coordination committee which comprises Congress state in-charge Venugopal, chairman Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, had decided on forging the pre-poll alliance and made an announcement in this connection. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) had also ratified this alliance.

Byre Gowda added that the Lok Sabha polls slated for April-May next year might be advanced. But sharing of seats had not been discussed yet. Dissent over seat sharing especially for Hassan and Mandya parliamentary constituencies, would not affect the alliance, he said.

Alluding to the call by Belagavi seers for a protest against regional imbalance on July 31 in front of Suvarna Soudha, he appealed to people of the northern parts of the state not to give into negative emotions like separatism and the demand for the bifurcation of the state into north and south Karnataka.

Despite doomsday predictions by mass media, the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state had survived for several months and continues to remain stable he claimed.

Byre Gowda is touring Belagavi district to review the progress of various development projects.