BENGALURU: Ahead of the big electoral battle in April-May, the political stage on Monday was set for a fight between
Congress and JD(S) for the fourth seat in the
Rajya Sabha polls, with both parties fielding their candidates.
Will it be Congress’ third candidate G C Chandrashekhar or B M Farook of JD(S) who will taste victory was the debate in political circles as candidates of
BJP, Congress and JD(S) filed nomination papers for the four seats. While Congress fielded three candidates, the other parties fielded one each.
“We have worked out a strategy and all our three candidates will win,” said KPCC president G Parameshwara, who accompanied Congress candidates L Hanumanthaiah, Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrashekhar to Vidhana Soudha.
Parameshwara appeared elated as both Hanumanthaiah and Chandrashekhar are said to be his choices. He said: “The party has chosen honest and loyal workers for Rajya Sabha. I thank AICC president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi for the same.”
While Hanumanthaiah and Hussain will get the first preference votes of Congress, Chandrashekhar, being the third candidate, needs 11 additional votes (if the party allocates 45 votes to its first two candidates) to get elected. On the other hand, Farook needs to garner 14 extra votes. Congress is depending on Independents and seven JD(S) rebels for Chandrashekhar’s win.
“Many MLAs from other parties, including Independents, are happy with the state government’s performance and they share a cordial relation with chief minister Siddaramaiah. So they will vote for me,” said a confident Chandrashekhar.
Meanwhile, BJP nominee and industrialist Rajeev Chandrasekhar also filed nomination papers. He was accompanied by his parents, state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa, opposition leader in assembly Jagadish Shettar and others. Earlier in the day, Rajeev officially joined BJP at the party’s state office to avoid embarrassment to the party over his non-Karnataka origin. He is the vicechairman of NDA in Kerala.
“Chandrasekhar settled in
Karnataka many years ago and has fought for the Kannada cause on many occasions. He is very much a Kannadiga,’’ said Yeddyurappa when asked why BJP didn't prefer a Kannadiga for the RS seat.
Hussain said: The party has given us a big responsibility. We will protect Karnataka’s interest in Rajya Sabha.”
Farook, who had filed papers on Friday, filed another set of nominations on Monday on the insistence of JD(S) leader H D Revanna, who believes in auspicious and inauspicious timings.
The scrutiny of nomination papers is scheduled for Tuesday and the last date for withdrawal is March 15. Polling is on March 23.
