Amid the continuing uncertainty about constituencies to be ceded to the Janata Dal (Secular) in the seat-sharing arrangement, Congress sources said the party may be ready to give up claim over the Mysuru parliamentary seat only if the former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda contests from there.
Incumbent seats
At the screening committee meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) held in Delhi on Monday, the issue was discussed at length. However, no final decision was taken. Although all the members of the screening committee agreed, in principle, to share eight seats with the JD(S), the party is not ready to share any incumbent seats.
“When we share an incumbent seat, we will be losing a good candidate. Unless the JD(S) compensates the same category candidate, this cannot be done. At the most, we may give one Congress incumbent seat to the alliance partner, depending on how hard the JD(S) bargains,” a senior party leader said.
KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao said two or three names of potential candidates for each constituency had been shortlisted. “The shortlisted names will be placed before the Central Election Committee that will meet on March 16. The final list list will be out after the CEC meeting,” he said.
No final call yet
On seat sharing, he said no final decision had been taken on the constituencies that would be shared with the JD(S). “We are hopeful that the seat-sharing issue will be sorted out amicably,” he said.
Speaking to presspersons before the meeting, coordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah reiterated that there was no question of actor Sumalatha being given the Congress ticket from Mandya. Apart from Mr. Dinesh Gundu Rao, the meeting was attended by Mr. Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal.