Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Nov 18: There is information that the concerned are stealthily moving to form 'Mahagathbandhan' in the south with the coming together of Congress, JD(S), TDP, Janasena of Pawan Kalyan in Telangana, and Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needi Maiam party in Tamil Nadu. Karnataka chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, is said to be brokering to bring together all these parties to browbeat BJP's designs of gaining in strength in the south, and in all likelihood, former Prime Minister, H D Deve Gowda, would provide leadership and strategy.
Kumaraswamy has already held parleys with Kamal Haasan and Pawan Kalyan on this issue. There are chances of discussions taking place in the presence of Congress national president, Rahul, Gandhi, at New Delhi in the presence of leaders from different parties.
As per the plan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will witness the coming together of Congress, TDP and Janasena in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, DMK - Congress - Makkal Needhi Maiam coalition in Tamil Nadu, and Congress - JD(S) combine in Karnataka. Kamal Haasan and Pawan Kalyan will undertake election tour of Karnataka seeking votes for the coalition canidates here. Discussions are also on about the possibility of getting Chiranjeevi, who is identified with Congress, and Balakrishna, who is with TDP, to undertake campaigning in Karnataka. The leaders hope to reap benefit of the association with Telugu film stars in Kolar Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru central and north constituencies, Ballari, Raichur, Bidar, Gulbarga, and Yadgiri constituencies.
Reports say that during the recent visit of Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu to the city, these issues were discussed with Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy. After discussions, M K Stalin of DMK and Chandrababu Naidu appear to have moved mentalluy closer to being part of the Mahagathbandhan. Reportedly, Deve Gowda is also using his skills to woo Chandrashekhar Rao of TRS into this arrangement, and he has been talking to Rao often. It is however said that some of the parties are not prepared to accept Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Ministerial candidate.
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been appreciative of the recent feat of bagging two out of three Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka during the bypoll. They also are happy that the tally of Congress votes has considerably increased in Shivamogga constituency. So they have reasons to believe that if both the parties fight together, bagging 20 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka would not be difficult.
As per talks so far, Congress will be allowed to field candidates in 18 constituencies, leaving the balance ten to JD(S). JD(S) is likely to stake claim for Hassan, Mandya, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Mysuru, Uttara Kannada and Bengaluru (north) constituencies in addition to some others.