The Hindu : Karnataka News : Council polls: JD(S)-Congress pact ignored in Chitradurga

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Karnataka

Council polls: JD(S)-Congress pact ignored in Chitradurga

Staff Correspondent

No common candidate because of pressure from district leaders of both parties

Chitradurga: With neither the Congress nor the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate withdrawing their nominations for the elections to the Legislative Council, a triangular fight seems inevitable as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is bound to put up a fight.

The Congress and the JD(S) have reached an understanding at the State level to field common candidates to defeat the BJP. Till Friday, the last day for withdrawing nominations, it was rumoured that one of the candidates would drop out.

To clear the air, Congress candidate Mahaboob Pasha told presspersons on Friday that he would not withdraw and expressed confidence of winning the polls.

JD(S) candidate B.T. Siddesh, perhaps afraid of being let down by his party, also filed his nomination as an independent candidate.

The Congress had been confident of convincing the JD(S) leadership to withdraw the candidature of Mr. Siddesh. Interestingly, JD(S) leader and former Minister D. Majunath had said that he would be able to convince the Congress leadership to withdraw the nomination of Mr. Pasha.

Sources in both parties said that pressure from the respective district leaders forced the State leaders to keep both candidates in the fray.

Division of votes

BJP candidate G.H. Tippareddy was closely watching the developments. Had the Congress and the JD(S) fielded a common candidate, the fight would have been tough for Mr. Tippareddy. However, the division of votes will improve his chances.

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