'Congress will not hitch with JD(S) in event of hung House'

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: The Election Commission is likely to announce the results for the Karnataka Assembly Election held on May 10 for 224 seats today. Despite a majority of the exit polls predicting a hung assembly while a few gave the lead for the Congress party in forming the government, the party is waiting for the official results to decide their next move.

However, the BJP and JD(S), too, are working on their strategies ahead of the result. Both the BJP and Congress’ fate depends on the JD(S) in the event of a hung assembly. The Congress party has refused to get the latter’s support and denied talking with them. Instead, the party is expecting support from a few winning candidates, whichever party they may be from.

Congress’ Chittapur MLA and KPCC’s Communication Chairman told News Trail that the party doesn’t need any support from the JD(S) even in the event of a hung assembly. “We did not hold any talks with them and we do need their support if we do not cross the majority mark. Many exit polls said there are chances of a hung assembly, and those are just indications and not the final results. We are confident of crossing the magic number,” he said.

In 2018, the Congress party extended their support to the JD(S) to form the government and awarded Kumarasamy with the chief minister post, to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of the picture. This time, the scenes within the Congress show a rather different picture. In 2018, the BJP won at least 104 seats, while Congress got 78 and JD(S) 37.

Asked if the party was in talks with a few winning Independent candidates to get support in the event of a hung assembly, Kharge agreed and said they may support Congress to form the government. But this is possible only when Congress needs four or five MLAs to form the government. If Congress lands in a position needing the support of ten MLAs, it becomes a challenging task for them, where they will have to approach the JD(S).

Meanwhile, the JD(S) claimed that the Congress allegedly tried to poach their MLAs, which the Congress denied. In a similar incident, the Congress party instructed its district presidents to move the winning MLAs to Bengaluru.

A source from the party also claimed that they have chosen another city to move their MLAs in case there is a need to move them to a resort. The move has come amid the BJP leader Ashok saying the party would start an ‘operation’ after getting the high command’s ascent to form the government in the State in the event of not making it on its own.

Kharge informed News Trail that “poaching MLAs is the traditional tactic” of the BJP. “They may try to poach MLAs as it is their traditional tactic. Everybody knows that,” he said. Congress’ Rajya Sabha member and AICC’s general secretary KC Venugopal, who arrived in Bengaluru on Friday, held talks with the party’s senior leaders hours before the election result.