Kumaraswamy offers to swap second preference votes with Congress in RS polls

Offering to trade second preference votes with the Congress, Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said his main agenda is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the contest for fourth seat, during the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.

The former chief minister also claimed that even if JD-S manages to get 22 second preferential votes from the Congress, it will be in a leading position.

Six candidates are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha poll to four seats from Karnataka, necessitating a heated contest for the fourth seat.

Despite not having the adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state assembly, all the three political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress and JD-S -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.

"I'm even now ready for this... My main agenda is that BJP should face a defeat, I'm ready for it. After Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala called me, I calculated and have personally informed him that we (JD-S) are ready to transfer our 32 second preference votes to Congress, but want their (Congress’s) 24 second preference votes in return," Kumaraswamy said.

Speaking to reporters, he said he doesn't have a better offer than this to make and asked Congress to prove its secular commitment by supporting a secular party, and thereby “begin a new politics to save the state”.

Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah is the only person opposed to this offer, he further said, adding that "when JD-S candidate D Kupendra Reddy met state Congress chief D K Shivakumar to seek support, I too spoke to him over the phone and requested for support to defeat the BJP."

The six candidates in the fray for Rajya Sabha polls from the state are Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP; former Union minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from the Congress; and former MP D Kupendra Reddy from the JD-S.

Kumaraswamy said the Congress's general secretary in-charge spoke to him over the phone on June 2 and requested their support.

"Yesterday I spoke to Surjewala over phone once again, and told him that I have spoken to our MLAs regarding his request, and we were ready to give our 32 second preference votes to the Congress's second candidate and asked for their 24 second preference votes in return. He (Surjewala) said he will send someone for a discussion, but no one has come till now."

Despite the JD-S seeking support to ensure Reddy's election to the Upper House of Parliament, the Congress did not withdrawn its second candidate Khan from the fray and has issued a whip to all its MLAs asking them to vote for the party's candidates.

A candidate needs the support of 45 MLAs to win, and based on their strength in the legislative assembly, the BJP can win two seats and the Congress one.

After getting two Rajya Sabha candidates (Sitharaman and Jaggesh) elected on its own strength in the assembly, the BJP will be left with an additional 32 MLAs votes.

The Congress will be left with 24 MLAs votes after electing Jairam Ramesh, while the JD-S has only 32 MLAs, which is not sufficient to win a seat.

Counting of votes will take place on June 10 at 5 pm, which is after the polling hours.

Official sources said as there are three candidates for the fourth seat and none of them has the adequate number of votes to win, a situation may arise where the second and third preferential votes may have to be counted if necessary.

There are talks within political circles that the BJP may be at an advantage if preferential votes were to be counted and Congress and JD-S don't come to any understanding.

Accusing the Congress of fielding a second candidate for RS polls with an intention to ensure BJP's victory, Kumaraswamy hit out at Siddaramaiah for expressing confidence about getting a "vote of conscience" from JD-S and BJP MLAs for their second candidate, and asked how can he expect other party MLAs to vote for the Congress when the elections are held by open ballot.

"How will you win? Yesterday you (Siddaramaiah) had said that the Congress will get a vote of conscience. Does vote of conscience mean getting votes for money or getting votes through defection?" he asked.

The June 10 RS polls is ammunition for the JD-S to prove that the regional party is not the B-team of the BJP, Kumaraswamy said, adding that "the mask of a leader (Siddaramaiah) who called us the B-team of BJP will fall, and people of the state will know who is the real B team."