Senior leaders, ministers urge CM to get Mysuru Lok Sabha seat for JD(S)

Mysuru: Senior JD(S) leaders from across the district including the likes of the party’s state unit president Adagooru H Vishwanath, tourism minister SR Mahesh and higher education minister GT Devegowda on Sunday urged chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to ensure that a JD(S) candidate was fielded from the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency. However, Kumaraswamy remained non-committal about the subject and told the party workers and activists that a candidate would be finalised after the top brass of the Congress and JD(S) conferred with one another. “A decision will be made in the coming days,” he said.
Sources in the JD(S) said that local leaders in Mysuru are keen on preempting former CM and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who is keen on bagging both Mysuru and Chamarajanagar seats for his party.

JD(S) Karnataka president and Hunsur MLA Vishwanath, however, made it clear that getting the Mysuru Lok Sabha seat as part of the arrangement between the two allies was not a survival contest for either Siddaramaiah or Kumaraswamy. “But, we must defeat the BJP, and so, the Congress must yield the seat to JD(S),” said Vishwanath, who expressed his displeasure at Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the CM a ‘clerk’. “Modi is afraid of Kumaraswamy,” he added.

Endorsing Vishwanath’s observations on the party’s strength in Mysuru, GT Devegowda and Mahesh said that the workers were up to rising to the challenge, and ensuring a JD(S) victory in the constituency.

Kumaraswamy, while acknowledging the demand of his party leaders, said that a decision on which party’s candidate would be fielded from Mysuru would be a unanimous one.

Workers who participated in the convention urged senior leaders not to cede too much ground to the Congress, and warned against succumbing to pressure from Siddaramaiah.

Notwithstanding the hectic discussions that were held at the convention about the party’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, former mayor and JD(S) leader MJ Ravikumar told TOI that the meet was held to take stock of the organisation at the grassroots.

A party leader pointed out that the vote share of the JD(S) had been higher compared to the Congress in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar in the assembly elections. “Our ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party, is very strong in Chamarajanagar. Our party leaders must take into account these factors. We have requested our senior leaders not to give up Mysuru and Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha seats when they finalise the seat-sharing arrangement with Congress,” the leader said.

Vijayashankar makes a pitch for LS seat

On the other hand, former MP and Congress leader CH Vijayashankar pitched for his candidature from Mysuru. “I have won the Lok Sabha polls from Mysuru twice. JD(S) has not won the seat in the recent past. Former CM Siddaramaiah assured me of the ticket from Mysuru Lok Sabha segment when I joined the Congress,” he said.

‘PM must talk with dignity’

Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jibe about the Karnataka CM being a ‘clerk’, HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said that such statements do not become the office of the PM. “Let the PM talk with dignity,” said Kumaraswamy, adding that the countdown to the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre started on his swearing-in ceremony.