A contest has become inevitable with the JDS springing a surprise and its candidate Govindaraju filing his nomination on Monday.
There are now eight candidates in the fray for seven upper house seats for which MLAs are the voters. The Congress earlier named five people and the BJP two, which suggested a unanimous election. But the scenario changed overnight, raising the temperature in Shivakumar’s camp.
Thippannappa Kamknoor, PV Mohan, BK Hariprasad, Shivanna and Vinay Karthik Prakash are contesting as Congress nominees, while Lingaraj Patil and Raghu R have entered the fray as BJP candidates. It’s Govindaraju’s entry that has muddied waters. With each MLA assigned a particular candidate, the contest is going to be between Vinay Karthik Prakash and Govindaraju.
A JDS source said the party decided to field its candidate after the BJP assured to assign its six MLAs — surplus votes – to the JDS. The regional party itself has 18 MLAs, and it will require another four votes to win. “Kumaraswamy would not have decided to field the party candidate without a plan in mind,” the source added.
It is this confidence of Kumaraswamy that is sure to give a tough time to the CM’s camp. “Does a chess player reveal how he will make his moves,” Shivakumar asked the media on Monday, reacting to the development, hinting that he would come up with his counter plans to neutralise the threat posed by the JDS.
The CM is aware of the unhappiness among sections of Congress MLAs. Many MLAs who were part of the previous Siddaramaiah cabinet are no longer ministers. These lawmakers coupled with others may well be waiting for an opportunity to embarrass the party leadership.Shivakumar is an arch political rival of Kumaraswamy, and the JDS leader may well seek to tap the disgruntled Congress MLAs. If he succeeds and if a few Congress MLAs decide to cross-vote in favour of the JDS and help with its win, that will be a terrible loss of face for both Shivakumar. Such an outcome may drag his stock within the party too.
Kumaraswamy has nothing much to lose in this gambit as the JDS does not anyway have the numbers it requires. But it is no so for the chief minister.
