Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda will be filing his nomination papers on Tuesday to contest the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 19.
Clearing the air on the suspense over Mr. Gowda contesting the election, which prevailed for nearly a fortnight, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday took to Twitter to announce Mr. Gowda’s candidature. Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the party supremo would be filing his nomination papers on Tuesday. He also thanked Mr. Gowda for having agreed to become the consensus candidate after coming under pressure from party legislators and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi. Till Saturday, Mr. Kumaraswamy had maintained that his party had not finalised any candidate, and that Mr .Gowda had not shown interest to contest.
Though Janata Dal (Secular) with 34 members in the Legislative Assembly does not have the required number of 45 votes to get its candidate elected, the Congress will transfer its additional votes. The Congress with 68 members has enough numbers to get its candidate, former party leader in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge, elected. Four candidates retiring on June 25 include JD(S) member Kupendra Reddy.
This will be the second entry to Rajya Sabha for the octogenarian leader, who was earlier elected to the Upper House when he became the Prime Minister in 1996.
Kharge files nomination
Meanwhile, veteran leader and former Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday filed his nomination papers for election to Rajya Sabha. He was accompanied by Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, KPCC president-designate D.K. Shivakumar, and senior leaders R.V. Deshpande and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, when he filed his nomination in Vidhan Soudha. Tuesday is the last date for filing nominations to elections scheduled for June 19. Four seats from Karnataka are falling vacant on June 25.
Earlier, after the Congress Legislature Party meeting at KPCC office on Monday morning, Mr. Kharge thanked Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi for providing an opportunity to contest the Rajya Sabha polls. Mr. Shivakumar issued the B form to Mr. Kharge at the KPCC office. Once elected, the nine-time legislator will make his debut in the Upper House of the parliament.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Shivakumar said that Mr. Kharge had the characteristics of a national leader, and that there is no parallel to his experience. “There was pressure to nominate him from across the country. Leaders from other parties also exerted pressure on our leaders. We are confident that he will fight for people’s cause,” he said.