JD(S)-Congress seat sharing: Final call on March 10
New Delhi, Mar 07: The JD(S) and Congress would take a final call on the number of seats both parties would contest in Karnataka on March 10. While a broad understanding has been reached, the two parties would meet again on March 10 and take a call.
Scaling down his party's demand, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to allot at least 10 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka to his party.
The
Janata
Dal
(Secular)
had
earlier
demanded
that
it
be
given
12
seats
to
contest.
After
Gandhi
met
Gowda
at
the
latter's
residence,
the
JD(S)
said
the
seat-sharing
agreement
is
likely
to
be
finalised
shortly
and
will
be
announced
by
March
10.
At
the
two-hour
meeting,
Gandhi
and
Deve
Gowda
broadly
discussed
seat
sharing
in
Karnataka,
prevailing
political
situation
in
the
country
and
the
need
for
opposition
unity.
AICC's
general
secretary
in
Karnataka
K
C
Venugopal
and
JD(S)
national
general
secretary
Danish
Ali
were
present
at
the
meeting.
With 20 MP seats 'a Kannadiga can be PM again': Kumaraswamy
"Gandhi discussed about seat sharing in Karnataka. This is the first such discussion between the two parties... Earlier, I had asked for 12 seats. At the meeting, I requested Rahulji to give at least 10 seats to the JD(S)," Gowda told reporters.
Asserting that the objective of the pre-poll alliance is to win the elections, Gowda said the Congress chief will take a final call on the seat-sharing arrangement after taking inputs from Ali and Venugopal.
The ruling coalition partners in Karnataka have held formal talks + on seat sharing at the state level.
Ali said, "Some issues which were not discussed at the meeting have been left to me and Venugopal to decide and finalise."
The Congress would contest two-thirds of the seats and the JD(S) will get the rest, he said.
"However, seat wise, we have to discuss and finalise. We are going to reach a decision shortly and will announce it by March 10," he noted.