Rahul to have final say on seat-sharing: Deve Gowda

Former Prime Minister and JD(S) National President H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday said AICC President Rahul Gandhi will have a final say on sharing of seats among the alliance partners in Karnataka for the Lok Sabha polls.

In an interaction organised by Deccan Herald – Prajavani in Bengaluru, Gowda said, “Despite hiccups, the coalition government in the state is moving forward with confidence. The grass root political situation will be taken into account before arriving at a final decision (on seat sharing).

To a question on the Congress’ argument on why should JD(S) be given 12 of the 27 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, Gowda said, “We will decide by what Rahul Gandhi decides,” he said indirectly hinting that the state Congress leaders may not have a say in the entire seat-sharing process.

Besides Mandya and Hassan (represented in the present Lok Sabha by the JD-S) the party has also sought that its candidates be allowed to contest from Mysore, Chikkaballapur, Tumkur among others. He said the aim of seat sharing between the JD(S) and the Congress is to defeat the BJP.

“When the present coalition government was sworn in, the who's who of Indian politics descending on Bengaluru. Barring the NDA leaders, a total of 22 leaders had come down to Bengaluru. Since then more than 15 by-polls have been held and the BJP has bitten the dust in all of them”, he said.

He said whatever the H D Kumaraswamy-led government has delivered till date will be the report card of the coalition. “We will face Lok Sabha polls by showcasing those works,” Gowda said.