Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Apr 8: Ten days ahead of election, leaders of Congress - JD(S) coalition got busy with addressing the rebellion that is threatening to spoil the chances of coalition candidates in Mysuru, Mandya, Tumakuru and Hassan districts, on Sunday April 7. Not only in-charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka, K C Venugopal, but also Siddaramaiah and other leaders have been making a concerted attempt to turn the party leaders and workers who have not been willing to support the candidates put forth by the Congress - JD(S) combine, to change their minds.
Although chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, has been saying that election in Mandya is just like election in any other constituency, as his son is fighting the election here, the Congress leaders are compelled to convince their party men there to change their anti-Nikhil stance.
Venugopal, who arrived at the city, held meeting with leader of the Congress legislative party in the assembly, Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, Dinesh Gundu Rao, deputy chief minister, Dr G Parameshwara, water resources minister, D K Shivakumar and other senior leaders for about two hours on the subject of problems that have cropped up between leaders in the coalition.
It is learnt that Venugopal urged the leaders to convince the party workers in Mandya and Hassan constituencies to actively engage in election work in favour of the JD(S) candidates fielded from there. The leaders of the two parties have announced that from Monday, Congress and JD(S) will undertake joint election meetings at various places within Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency. JD(S) state president, Adagur H Vishwanath, said that leaders and workers of both the parties will work sincerely by assuming that all the constituencies in the state belong to them. Former minister and Congress leader, Dr H C Mahadevappa, said that there are no differences of opinion between the leaders of the two parties now.
Siddaramaiah also held meeting with party candidates from the district who were defeated in the previous assembly election. Former minister, Cheluvarayaswamy M Narendra Swamy, former MLA, Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, former MLA, K Chandrashekhar, and Ramakrishna Ravi Ganiga took part in the meeting. It is said that these leaders drew the attention of Siddaramaiah to the public statements made by JD(S) leaders from the constituency that they do not need the support of Congress leaders to win the election. As such, Siddaramaiah might hold another round of talks with these leaders on Monday.
While G T Deve Gowda said that the differences between the workers of the two parties have reduced, H Cheluvarayaswamy said that three ministers and eight legislators are busy with canvassing for the coalition candidate at Mandya. He said he is on his own, and if the party initiates disciplinary action, he will deem it as some kind of blessing. Shivakumar agreed that the workers of the two parties had been fighting with each other since the last three decades, and as such, bringing about transformation in the mindset has been found difficult. He however added that the people will come together for the sake of their country and party.
Dr G Parameshwar said that he had specifically asked Rahul Gandhi not to give away Tumakuru constituency as Congress has bright chances there. However, he confessed that he had to accept the decision of Gandhi after the national president of the party, after holding discussions with JD(S) leaders, agreed to cede this constituency in favour of Jd(S). "We had to sacrifice Tumakuru to save the coalition," he added.