Seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the Janta Dal (Secular) for the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka remained inconclusive on Monday.
Senior leaders of both the parties met on Monday to discuss the sharing of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. The JD(S), which is the junior partner in the coalition government in the State, is aiming for 12 seats, while the Congress wants to limit it to 8-10 seats.
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and his father and JD(S) Supremo HD Deve Gowda want seats-sharing to be proportionate to the seats won by the two parties in 2018 Assembly election.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka KC Venugopal said: “The decision on seat-sharing is incomplete and we will meet again. Our coalition partner has given a number of seats they wish to contest and we have to examine it.”
“We discussed and exchanged a list of constituencies that both parties are interested in, except Mandya and Hassan. Hopefully, a final call will be taken by Deve Gowda and Rahul Gandhi shortly,” said Danish Ali, General Secretary, JD(S).
The former chief minister and co-ordination committee chairman, Siddaramaiah, told media: “The JD(S) wishes to contest a minimum of 12 seats. But no final decision was taken in today’s meeting.”
While the JD(S) is keen to field Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Gowda from Mandya, the wife of Kannada superstar Ambareesh, Sumalathaa, too, wants to contest the seat on Congress ticket.
Cong MLA resigns
Congress MLA from Chincholi Umesh Jadhav met Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and submitted his resignation letter.
The resignation is not likely to alter the party position on the Floor. Jadhav, a two-time MLA, reportedly quit the seat over the denial of ministerial berth during the Cabinet expansion in December.
Sources said Jadhav was keen on contesting on a BJP ticket against Congress leader M Mallikarjun Kharge from Kalaburgi Lok Sabha constituency.