Cong-JD(S) coalition to be put to test

BENGALURU: The bypolls to two assembly and three Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, announced by the Election Commission of India on Saturday, will put to test the strength of the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular), or JD (S), alliance in the state.

Voting for the five seats will be held on November 3 and counting on November 6, the Election Commission said.

The assembly seats going to polls are Ramanagara on the outskirts of Bengaluru and Jamakhandi in Bagalkot district in the Mumbai-Karnataka region. The Lok Sabha seats are Ballari, Mandya and Shivamogga.

The Ramanagara constituency fell vacant after chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, who had contested from two seats, took the oath as the legislator from Channapatna. Congress legislator Siddu Nyamgouda’s death in a road accident in May, days after being elected to the assembly, resulted in vacancy in Jamakhandi.

All three Lok Sabha vacancies arose after the incumbents resigned from Parliament following their election as legislators after the state assembly elections in May.

Two of them, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders BS Yeddyurappa (Shivamogga) and B Sriramulu (Ballari), had resigned after the party staked claim to forming state government. BJP had later skipped facing a floor test as it didn’t have numbers.

CS Puttaraju of the JD (S) vacated the Mandya Lok Sabha seat to take charge as minor irrigation minister in HD Kumaraswamy’s cabinet.

This will be the first test of the Congress-JD(S) coalition as a combined force as it chose to fight the urban local body polls held in August separately, fearing a backlash from party workers if the alliance was extended to the grassroots level.

Seat-sharing between the coalition partners is expected to be difficult considering the fact that the JD(S) is a force only in the southern region of Karnataka, whereas the Congress has a presence across the state.

Congress leaders are worried about leaving the southern region, dominated by the Vokkaliga caste, to the JD(S) as it is the party’s direct rival in the southern districts, where the BJP has significantly less influence.

JD(S) national secretary general Danish Ali said it was clear that wherever the parties had previously won, they would get a chance to field candidates.

“So it is natural that we will field the candidates from Ramanagara and Mandya, where we were the incumbents,” he said.

This would mean that the Congress would get Jamakhandi. On the two other seats —Ballari and Shivamogga — Ali said a decision will taken based on the likelihood of victory.

State Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao, though, said nothing had been decided yet. “The poll dates have been announced only now. We will now have to sit together and take a call on which party gets which seat,” he said.

Gundu Rao said it was premature to say that the JD(S) would contest the two southern Karnataka seats. “The candidates will be chosen only on the basis of the prospect of victory,” he added.

Meanwhile, the BJP is confident of retaining both the Shivamogga and Ballari parliamentary seats.

Shivamogga has been won by members of the Yeddyurappa family in the last two elections.

The BJP has decided that Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu will remain legislators and strengthen the party in the state assembly.