The Congress is said to have moved its lawmakers in Karnataka to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru ahead of the June 18 Legislative Assembly elections, with the party aiming to eliminate the threat of cross-voting as it seeks five of the seven seats at stake, people familiar with the developments said.
A meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), chaired by Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, was held on Tuesday at Wonderla Resort near Bidadi. After the meeting, party members were directed to stay at the resort for two days before traveling directly to Vidhana Soudha to cast their votes, they said.
This rally marks the first meeting of the CLP since Shivakumar became its leader. According to people in the know, the meeting was attended by party general secretary in-charge of the state Randeep Surjewala, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president BK Hariprasad, MLAs and members of the legislative council.
The Congress Party leadership put the final touches on its strategy for the elections, in which the party fielded five candidates. Eight candidates are vying for the seven vacant posts, including five from the Congress Party, two from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one from the Janata Dal (secular).
As per the current strength, there are a total of 222 legislators, of which Congress 135, BJP 62 and JD(S) 18. A candidate needs 28 votes to win, and Congress can easily win four seats. However, since Shivakumar made a prestige issue by fielding Vinay Karthik as the fifth candidate, there is a fierce struggle to get additional votes, said a person familiar with the matter.
Although the Congress is hoping to get one vote from Bhutaniah’s darshan, it is still short of four votes. For this reason, the Congress is counting on the votes of Shivaram Hebbar and ST Somashekar, who were expelled from the BJP.
According to a person familiar with the details of the meeting, the MLAs were instructed on how to cast their first and second preference votes. Extensive arrangements have been made at the resort for the stay of the legislators. About 135 rooms have been booked, with accommodation and meals provided for about 150 people.
A senior police officer said that security measures had been tightened around the place. “All kinds of security arrangements have been made for the CLP meeting. More than 100 police personnel, including DySPs, inspectors and sub-inspectors, have been deployed to provide security,” Ramanagara district police inspector R Srinivas Gowda said.
Govindaraju, the candidate of the BJP-RJD alliance for the Legislative Council elections, said the alliance expects victory. “There are a total of eight candidates in the fray this time, five from the Congress, two from the BJP and one from the JD(JD) party. All developments are moving in the right direction. We are confident that our candidate will emerge victorious,” he said.
He also said that the JD(S) will hold a meeting of its legislators and legislative council members on Wednesday to chalk out the party’s electoral strategy.
“We will move forward according to the strategy formulated by our senior leaders. The necessary discussions on the elections will be held at the meeting and appropriate decisions will be taken,” he said.
He added, “We will move forward in accordance with the strategy developed by our senior leaders. The necessary discussions regarding the elections will be held at the meeting, and appropriate decisions will be taken.”
