KA-CONG-SEATS

The Congress was under pressure

not to cede any of the nine seats that it had won during the

2014 Lok Sabha polls to alliance partner JD(S) in Karnataka,

party's state working president Eshwar Khandre said Friday.

"During the last Lok Sabha polls, when there was so

called Modi wave, nine our MPs had won against the wave.

So there is a natural opinion or demand that these

constituencieshave to remain in Congress' fold, I would like

to say that itis appropriate," Khandre told reporters here.

The Congress MPs are said to have met party high command

in Delhi recently and requested the leadership not tocede the

seats won by the party last time to JD(S), during the seat

sharing discussion.

The BJP had won 17 seats, Congress 9, and JD(S) 2,

duringthe 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress and JD(S)that had bitterly fought against

each other during the last parliamentary election and in May

2018 assembly polls joined hands to form a government in the

state, as the election threw up a hung verdict.

Seat sharing is expected to be a litmus test for both

the parties, mostly in the old Mysuru region constituencies,

where JD(S) has emerged as a dominant force in recent past

andCongress has its sitting MPs.

JD(S) has demanded 12 out 28 seats during the Lok Sabha

polls.

Pradesh Congress Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, indicatinghis

party's reservation about JD(S)' demand for 12 seats, has

already said that seat sharing between the ruling coalition

partners will be based on the "merit".

Meanwhile, JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H D

Deve Gowda maintaining that both parties would go to polls

togethersaid that discussions were yet to take place with the

Congress on seat sharing.

"Congress and we (JD(S)) are together. Ours is a small

party. We will have to accept how much they give," Gowda told

reporters in Hassan.

When pointed out that JD(S) has demanded 12 out of28

seats, he said, "we are yet to discuss this."

"Siddaramaiah, the head of the coalition coordination

committee and K C Venugopal (Congress General Secretary) will

fix the date and discuss in the coordination committee, I'm

not part of it.

They will discuss there and then it will then go to high

command (Congress).. it is too early," he added.