The June 11th Rajya Sabha election is crucial for the ruling Congress party in Karnataka which is hoping to win three seats out of four to help party maintain its tally in Rajya Sabha. In number games, the ruling party has numbers in legislative Assembly for two seats but could manage third one if the party gets the support of the nine Independents and other smaller parties. At present the Congress holds only one seat but four seats will be vacant to add up to its tally.
According to party insiders there are many aspirants vying for the post and high command has yet to pick the leaders for the vacant seats. According senior congress leader veteran leaders such as SM Krishna, P Chidambaram, CM Ibrahim and Oscar Fernandes (all former Union Ministers) and Karnataka Mahila Congress president laxmi R Hebbalkar are lobbying hard to get elected.
“As one knows the Congress culture it will be decided by the high command and Chief Minister has no say in this regard. Siddaramaiah was snubbed by the high command and gave seat to Abdul Rahman Sharief, grandson of senior leader CK Jaffer Sharief, who lost miserably in Hebbal by polls. But I can say lobbying has started by many aspirants,” said a senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
However, there is also a thinking in the party to bring in new bloodline from the grassroots, a theory propounded by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi might give tickets to one or two new faces instead of old horses. “One has to wait to know the dark horse”, the leader said.
According to Assembly secretariat the number of votes required to win is 45 in the 225 members of the Karnataka Assembly (with no vote to the nominated Anglo-Indian member). The ruling party has the strength of 123 MlAs (excluding Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa), while the Bharatiya Janata Party has 44 and the Janata Dal (Secular) has the strength of 40 MlAs. The ruling party can easily ensure victory of two candidates, and will be left with surplus 33 votes. It will be short of 12 votes to get the third seat. The Congress is banking on cross voting from disgruntled JDs MlAs to snatch the third seat. As JDs is facing internal rebellion, feuds, the Congress will certainty try to lure the disgruntled JDs MlAs to get 12 as part of its strategy.
It is crucial for the Congress to win third seat and the party might also look at Independents (9) and members of the Badavara Shramikara Raithara Congress Party (3 MlAs), Karnataka Janata Paskha (2), and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha and Karnataka Makkala Paksha (one MlA each) to lend their support.
The elections are necessitated as Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Ayunur Manjunath of the BJP and Oscar Fernandes (Congress) are scheduled to retire next month and Vijay Mallya (Independent) resigned recently.
The major Opposition, BJP, needs just one extra vote to bag one seat and is likely to field either Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu or Ayanur Manjunath, both incumbent members of the Upper House. If Naidu, who was consecutively elected thrice from Karnataka, opts out, then the party may field Manjunath again, said a BJP leader.
However, the other Opposition JD(S) led by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda is undecided on its candidate and needs the support of five more MlAs to win a seat. But a source in the JDs said they are looking at fielding Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty. The notification for the polls will be issued on May 24, and the elections will be held on June 11.