RS polls: Siddu's googly puts JDS on backfoot

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Leader of the Opposition in State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah may have failed to ensure the victory of Congress second candidate Mansoor Ali Khan in the election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Legislative Assembly, but he has been successful in hitting three birds with a stone.

Everyone thought that the defeat of Khan in RS polls was a setback for the ‘Huiliya’ since he had only taken initiative to field the second candidate despite strong opposition from other party colleagues. No one knew what’s running in Siddaramaiah’s mind till he spoke to AICC General Secretary and in-charge of Karnataka Affairs Randeep Singh Surjewala regarding fielding a minority candidate to ‘emotionally’ blackmail the Janata Dal (Secular).

The purpose of fielding Khan as the second candidate was to prove that the JDS was no longer secular and it would go to any extent, including aligning with BJP, for the sake of power. He wanted to expose the ‘hollowness’ of the JDS leaders claiming that their party was the most secular and would maintain an equal distance from two regional parties, BJP and Congress.

In fact, KPCC President D.K. Shivakumar, who still enjoys a good equation with Kumaraswamy as they belong to the same Vokkaliga community and are of the same age group, was not in favour of fielding the second candidate and instead wanted to have a tie-up to at least to send JDS nominee, Kupendra Reddy or Mansoor Ali Khan to the Rajya Sabha.

The meeting between Shivakumar and Reddy reportedly upset the Badami MLA and he wanted to teach a lesson to the JDS for breaching the protocol. Shivakumar did not have any knowledge regarding fielding Mansoor Khan as the second candidate till the last minute and it was reportedly kept as a closely guarded secret. The intentions of Siddaramaiah was mainly to politically finish off the JDS and to prove among the other Congress leaders (read Shivakumar) that he was more close to high command than others.

The ‘Huliya’ was successful in decimating the JDS with which he had been associated for over two decades, by leaving it high and dry. The AICC President Sonia Gandhi ignored the plea by former PM H.D.Deve Gowda for mutual help in the RS polls. Even Randeep Surjewala did not care for the appeal by Kumaraswamy for a tie-up to defeat the third candidate of BJP. From the day of announcement of the calendar of events for the RS polls, the JDS was harping on the support of the Congress party for Reddy’s victory.

So, the BJP, which initially thought of having an electoral understanding with the regional party, decided not to hold any talks with the regional outfit. Siddaramaiah wanted the Congress and the BJP to keep the JDS away as they would emerge as kingmaker during the formation of any government, in case of fractured verdict, to seek their share of meat.

Ultimately, the JDS became a party which was neither wanted by the Congress nor by the BJP. The Congress leader was successful at least in pushing the JDS to a corner. Inside the party, Siddaramaiah has proved how close he has been with AICC supremo Sonia Gandhi. Now, the Delhi leaders cannot afford to bypass him before finalising any decision pertaining to the Karnataka affairs. Moving forward, it may not be surprising if Siddaramaiah will have a major say while distributing tickets for the coming Assembly polls.