By Team Mangalorean – Bangalore/Mangalore

BANGALORE/MANGALORE November 30, 2009: The JD(S) - Congress nexus for the upcoming elections to 25 seats in the Legislative Council will not make any dent anywhere in the state except few constituencies in central Karnataka and old Mysore. It will be Congress alone in Coastal seats as there is nil or minimum presence of JDS in coastal areas.
 
The Congress party in a frenzy to win more seats has made this seat sharing arrangement with JD(S) has denied tickets to 7 of its stalwarts that includes the opposition leader V.S.Ugrappa. This development is being watched by the political pundits very intently. The Congress JDS nexus will be effective in 17 seats out of total of 25 seats. It is Mr. Ugrappa who had blown whistle against the illegal mining of the Reddy brothers in Bellary and had also taken up a campaign against the BJP’s way of ruling in the state which had given the Congress upper hand in the Legislative Council.  The Thumkur constituency from which he had contested in the last elections has gone to JDS.
 
With him gone the Congress will be left with spent forces in the legislative council, unless the new members will be able to fill up the void. The JDS felt that it had a greater chance to win in this seat. It is not that Congress party had shown the door to Mr. Ugrappa but the party wanted the JDS to contest in that seat, Mr Ugrappa however did not want the advantage of a triangular contest to go to BJP and had decided to withdraw his candidature in favour of the JDS candidate. For this supreme sacrifice the Congress will give him suitable party position.
 
The nexus will cost dearly to the Congress as it  had enjoyed a majority of 19 seats out of elections held for 25 seats but under the new arrangement only 6 sitting members will get party tickets, those who have been kept out of the contest due to the nexus includes A.M. Hindasgeri, S.M.Shankar, Siddu Nyama Gowda, Basavaraja Patil Humanbad and other 13 sitting members.
 
But in Bangalore rural seat the JDS wanted its candidate even while it had no major gains in this seat. But the Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar has been successful in fielding his cousin S. Ravi. The party has given him the B form already.
 
There are about 13 new faces that will enter the council in this election that includes Mr. Mahima Patel, son of former Chief Minister late J.H. Patel. He will contest from Shimoga.
 
In Chikmagalur constituency Ms. Gayathri S Gowda who is a sitting member of the Zilla Panchayat has been given seat from the Congress party. In Bidar Mr. Manik Rao Patil has been given seat in place of Basavaraja Patil Humnabad. This change was done on behest of the Congress leader Mr. Dharam Singh.
 
In Dharwad A.M. Hindesgeri has been kept out of the contest and in his place Mr. Srinivas Mane has been chosen. In Bangalore city Mr. B.T. Dayanand Reddy has been given ticket in the place of Munivenkata Reddy. In Gulburga district president Mr.Allamaprabhu Patil has got the ticket to contest. In Bellary Venkat Rao Ghorpade has got the ticket.
 
The Congress has completed the distribution of B forms to all its contestants and most of them will file their nominations on Monday.

Congress leaders peeved

The Congress leadership that has forged a nexus with the JDS for the upcoming elections to 25 seats in the Legislative Council has left many Congressmen in lurch. They are now a dissatisfied lot. Many of them have also gone on record that the friendship with JDS will have a telling effect on the prospects of Congress party in the elections.
 
Several leaders who had stood outside the party fold and developed their own standings are now clearly left in the lurch. They had even lobbied with the high command of the party in a bid to dismantle the nexus with JDS.
 
They had projected the JDS as a friend of BJP as it had shared power with the BJP for twenty months. They have also opposed the party’s stand on seat adjustments with the JDS fearing their own seats will be jeopardized.
 
The Congress party on the other hand has taken the propositions given by the JDS state president Mr. H.D. Kumaraswamy seriously without giving any credence to the versions of the leaders in the state.
 
The Congress wanted to stop BJP’s advance in the state politics as the party was showing tremendous development in the recent past.

Related News

Cong, JD-S to join hands for council polls