Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Civic body polls: Congress may go in for seat sharing

GULBARGA: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has an open mind on sharing seats with like-minded parties in the coming urban local body elections in order to prevent the split of secular votes and defeat the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular).

KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge told The Hindu here on Saturday that the Congress had launched the campaign for urban civic body elections in the State in Bidar on Friday. A series of public meetings and workers’ meeting were held in 13 town and city municipalities that would go to the polls, he said.

Mr. Kharge said that the demands of like-minded parties would be accommodated during ticket distribution in consultation with local leaders and with the approval of AICC general secretary M.M. Jacob, who was in charge of the affairs of the State.

The prime concern of the Congress party was to prevent the split of secular votes. “We will try to unite all secular forces and splinter groups in the Opposition to ensure victory of secular candidates,” he said.

Asked whether the party would have any truck with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the urban body civic elections, Mr. Kharge said that the party had not initiated any talks with BSP leaders. The BSP leadership had also not sent any feelers regarding electoral understanding or seat-sharing arrangements, he said.

Mr. Kharge pointed out that the Congress had a strong base in all the 209 local bodies going for the elections. In the last elections, the party had emerged victorious by winning 41 per cent of the seats followed by 20 per cent of seats by Janata Dal (United) which had fought the elections in alliance with the BJP. Janata Dal (Secular) could get hardly 10 to 15 per cent seats, he said.

Mr. Kharge said the party was confident of improving its performance and gain majority in most of the urban local bodies. “We have to adopt a give and take policy to prevent communal forces from coming into force in the State,” he said.

On the political situation in the State, Mr Kharge said that growing differences between the ruling partners on sharing power pointed to the inevitability of mid-term elections. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s remark that the party’s secular image had suffered due to its tie-up with the BJP was a late realisation of the damage done to the State by allowing communal forces to gain ground, he added.

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Civic body polls: Congress may go in for seat sharing

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