LS poll: Don't yield to HDD, Cong MPs tell high command

Congress MPs of Karnataka have requested the party top brass not to succumb to the pressure by the JD(S) as it is building pressure to give it most seats in south Karnataka for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election.

The Congress MPs, who held a dinner meeting at Chikkaballapur MP M Veerappa Moily’s residence last week here, said that the party should agree to give the seats represented by them to the JD (S) under no circumstance.

They have also demanded if the JD(S) insists on fielding candidates in seats, currently represented by the Congress, the party should not hesitate to go for polls without any alliance.

Congress General Secretary in charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal, who was present in the dinner, promised them that he will convey their suggestions to Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

The JD(S) has already announced that it will seek 12 Lok Sabha seats from the Congress, mostly from south Karnataka out of the total 28 seats in the state.

The coalition partner’s plan to seek seats represented by Congress --- Chikkaballapur ( M Veerappa Moily), Tumakuru (S P Muddahanumegowda) and Kolar (K H Muniyappa) --- irked the Congress leaders.

In the meeting, the MPs learnt to have said that the Congress should not spare any seats, which is currently represented by it now, at any cost, the sources said.

Since the Congress has already given the chief minister’s post to the JD(S), which just has 34 seats, there is no need to succumb to the pressure from them any further issue, the MPs said.

“In the meeting, many MPs have urged the party leaders not to give more than six or seven seats to the JD(S) as their influence is limited only to south Karnataka,” said an MP who attended the
meeting.

Reminding Venugopal that the JD(S) influence will be limited only to south Karnataka region, the Congress MPs said that they should show strength in seats sharing talks with its coalition partner.

The state Congress also suggested the party top brass to reject the Deve Gowda’s idea of seat sharing under 2:1 (JD(S) getting half the number of seats that Congress will contest) formula followed during the allocation of portfolios and boards and corporations.

Many MPs also suggested Venugopal take up the matter with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy about complaints of the Congress MLAs that the chief minister is ignoring them in sanctioning development works.

Deve Gowda had earlier said Congress should not impose any condition for sharing of seats since the party gave unconditional support to form the government. Gowda also said that as per the 2:1 formula 11 seats should come to the JD(S).

In 2014, they had won two Lok Sabha seats.