Karnataka RS polls likely to be unanimous; Cong & JDS field

The June 19 elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka is likely to be unanimous with no party fielding an additional candidate and the Congress and JD(S) fielding party stalwarts and the ruling BJP giving tickets to two of its "low profile" workers. The BJP's central leadership on Monday sprang a surprise by fielding Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti as its candidates for the election ignoring the recommendations of the party state unit.

This even as veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge filed his nomination as party candidate, and JD(S) announced that its patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has decided to contest the Rajya Sabha polls on the request of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, several national leaders and party legislators. Election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka represented by Rajeev Gowda and B K Hariprasad of the Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement.

June 9 is the last date for filing nominations. The BJP, with 117 members in the assembly (including Speaker), can ensure easy victory in two seats.

The Congress, with 68 MLAs, can win one out of the four seats on its own. The JD(S), which has 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own and will need support from the Congress with its surplus votes.

A minimum of 45 votes are required for candidates to win. With no party fielding an additional candidate, other than the ones that they can win based on their strength in the assembly, the election is expected to be unanimous.

"Only Congress candidate has filed nomination so far, others are expected to file their papers by tomorrow. If no extra candidates files nomination, other than the four announced by political parties, it will be unopposed, unanimous election and polling will not be held," official sources said.

When the BJP central leadership announced the names of Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha election today through a press release, it came as a surprise literally to everyone in the party circles, as it rejected the recommendations made by the state unit. According to party sources, the state BJP core committee on Saturday had recommended three names to the high command as probable candidates-Ramesh Katti, the brother of senior MLA Umesh Katti, incumbent Prabhakar Kore and hotelier Prakash Shetty.

Ignoring the state unit's recommendation names, two low-key workers Kadadi and Gasti, who have been associated with party organisation for long, was announced. While, Kadadi, a Lingayat, is the party's Belagavi division in-charge, Gasti from Savitha Samaj (barber community) from Raichur district is party in-charge for the Bellary division.

Both are with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad background and have worked for the organisation at the grassroot level for decades. Stating that workers are "elated" with the decision as it is a recognition to grassroot workers, a senior BJP functionary said "it came as a complete surprise to the party state unity and certainly gives clear message to its leadership." BJP sources said the party central leadership's decision is an indication that loyalty to the party and ideology matter, and not to any particular leader.

It is also being seen as a setback to Yediyurappa as Kore and Shetty were considered to be close to him, and victory to a faction led by senior party functionary at the centre, sources said, without naming anyone. This has come at a time for Yediyurappa when there is speculation about dissidence within the state BJP against his leadership, with several MLAs, especially from north Karnataka holding separate meetings.

On getting elected, this will be the first stint in Rajya Sabha for Congress' Kharge, who has always got elected directly by the people in his political career spanning over four decades. Kharge, earlier popularly known as "solillada Saradara", (a leader without defeat), faced his first electoral loss in his political life against BJP's Umesh Jadhav in Gulbarga by a margin of 95,452 votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

For 87-year-old Gowda this will be the second Rajya Sabha entry, the first time being in 1996 as Prime Minister. He was defeated in Tumkur constituency by BJP's G S Basavaraj by over 13,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as he decided to contest from the seat at the last minute after vacating Hassan-his home turf, to grandson Prajwal Revanna (a current MP).PTI KSU BN WELCOME BN WELCOME