RS polls: Siddaramaiah only Cong man opposing JDS offer, says Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said Siddaramaiah is the only Congress leader who is opposed to JDS offer to transfer its 32 second preference votes to Congress in return of 24 second preference votes of the Congress to defeat BJP’s third candidate in Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.
“My main agenda is to defeat the BJP. I have told Karnataka incharge of Congress party Randeep Singh Surjewala that the JDS is ready to transfer its 32 second preference votes to Congress, but wants 24 second preference votes in return of the Congress. Surjewala said he will send someone for a discussion, but no one has come yet … But Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah is the only Congress leader who is opposed to this offer, he told reporters here.
Kumaraswamy accused Congress of fielding a second candidate for Rajya Sabha polls with an objective to ensure BJP’s victory.
He slammed Siddaramaiah for seeking a conscience vote from JDS and BJP MLAs for its second candidate. “Does vote of conscience mean getting votes for money or by engineering defection,” he asked Siddaramaiah.
Kumaraswamy said the Rajya Sabha poll results on June 10 will prove who the real B-Team of the BJP is. He was reacting to Siddaramaiah’s allegations that JDS is BJP’s B-Team.
Putting the onus on Congress, Kumaraswamy asked the rival party to prove its secular credentials by supporting the JDS candidate and save the state by beginning a new politics.
Kumaraswamy said he also had spoken to Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar over phone and sought his party’s support for JDS candidate D Kupendra Reddy, who met him recently.
In Spite of these maneuvers of the JDS, the Congress has not withdrawn its second candidate Mansoor Ali Khan from the fray and issued a whip to all its party MLAs asking them to vote in favour of the party’s candidate.
Six candidates are in the fray for Rajya Sabha polls from the state.
Despite an inadequate number of MLAs with them, all the parties have fielded an extra candidate who cannot win. To win, a candidate needs 45 votes from the MLAs. Therefore, the BJP can win two Rajya Sabha seats and Congress one from the state.
After getting Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaggesh elected to Rajya Sabha, the BJP will be left with 32 votes of its MLAs.
The Congress will be left with 24 MLAs votes after electing Jairam Ramesh, while JDS has only 32 MLAs, which is insufficient to register a win.
Counting of votes will take place on June 10 at 5 PM, which is after the polling hours.
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