The JD(S) chief made it clear that he would not forge an alliance with the BJP or the Congress.
New Delhi:
With less than 24 hours to go before the Rajya Sabha elections, one seat is still open in Karnataka as neither of the two major opposition parties – Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) is ready to blink an eye on the defeat arrangement. BJP candidate. JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy has in fact accused the Congress of “dirty politics” and said that they had to take their MLAs to a hotel to stop the poaching.
Six candidates have filed their nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections for four seats in Karnataka, necessitating a fierce contest for the fourth seat.
In a direct attack on former Chief Minister and current Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, an apparently agitated Mr Kumaraswamy said the Congress leader is not interested in defeating the BJP candidate and is only against the JD(S). “He has the prejudice of watching us lose,” Kumarasamy told NDTV. He had earlier today strongly urged the Congress to support his party’s candidate to strengthen “secular forces”.
45 votes are needed to win the Rajya Sabha election. The BJP can easily win two seats and the Congress one on the basis of its current strength.
However, for the fourth seat, the BJP has 32 seats and the Congress 24. JD(S) also has 32.
Despite not getting enough votes to win the fourth seat, the three parties have fielded their candidates.
Kumaraswamy said his party had requested the Congress for a second preferential vote for their candidate. 22 of these votes from the old party legislators would also put their candidate in the leading position for the elimination round, he claimed.
The JD(S) chief alleged, “I had requested the Congress that if you want to defeat the BJP, then support us and support our candidate. But Siddaramaiah wanted us to withdraw our candidate.”
Criticizing the state leaders of the Congress, Kumaraswamy has better expectations from the national leadership.
“To defeat BJP, Congress should support JD(S), which has more votes than it. There is no doubt that history and people will decide in future based on the outcome of this election result. I firmly believe That Hon’ble Randeep Singh Surjewala (AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka) will understand the point,” he told news agency PTI.
Both the parties have vowed to defeat the BJP, but none is ready to withdraw from the race. Mr Kumarasamy questioned why his party should back out when more MLAs than Congress are left for the seat, and thus have more chances of winning.
However, the Congress has made it clear that now is the time for the JD(S) to back a side, pointing out that former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda was last elected to the Rajya Sabha with his support in June 2020. Were.
Mr Kumarasamy has contested the claim saying that it was not the Congress but the then BJP chief minister BS Yediyurappa who had helped by not nominating anyone from his party. He said, “If BJP had contested the elections, the Congress would have definitely fought the elections. I know his nature.
The JD(S) chief clarified that he would not forge an alliance with the BJP or the Congress as “people are fed up” with both the parties.
He also indicated that the Congress was trying to get JD(S) MLAs to cross vote. “Due to the dirty politics of the Congress, we have shifted our MLAs to a hotel,” he said.
Talking of backing his candidate for the Congress, he did not shy away from attacking him in allying with the BJP. He said that the people have decided to throw out both the parties in the assembly elections to be held next year.
Voting for Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 10. The counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5 pm.