The Congress has reportedly moved its Karnataka legislators to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru ahead of the June 18 Legislative Council elections, as the party aims to eliminate the risk of cross-voting while seeking to secure five of the seven seats at stake, people familiar with the development said.
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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 MLAs were directed to remain at the resort for two days before travelling directly to the Vidhana Soudha to cast their votes, they said.
The gathering marks the first CLP meeting since Shivakumar became its leader. According to the people in the know, party’s general secretary in-charge of the state Randeep Surjewala, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president BK Hariprasad, MLAs and members of the Legislative Council attended the meeting.
The Congress leadership finalised its strategy for the election, in which the party has fielded five candidates. Eight candidates are contesting the seven vacancies, including five from the Congress, 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 has 135, BJP has 62 and JD(S) has 18 votes. A candidate needs 28 votes to win, and Congress can easily win four seats. However, since Shivakumar has made it a prestige issue by fielding Vinay Karthik as the fifth candidate, there is a fierce struggle for additional votes, a person aware of the matter said.
Although the Congress is hopeful of getting one vote from Darshan Puttannaiah, it is still short of four votes. For this, the Congress is counting on the votes of Shivaram Hebbar and ST Somashekar, who have been expelled from the BJP.
According to a person aware of the meeting’s details, the MLAs were guided on how to cast their first and second preference votes. Extensive arrangements have been made at the resort for the legislators’ stay. Around 135 rooms have been reserved, with accommodation and meals arranged for approximately 150 people.
A senior police officer said security around the venue has been tightened. “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 for security,” Ramanagara district superintendent of police R Srinivas Gowda said.
Govindaraju, the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate for the legislative council polls, said the alliance expected to secure victory. “There are a total of eight candidates in the fray this time, with five from the Congress, two from the BJP, and one from the JD(S). All developments are moving in the right direction. We are confident that our candidate will emerge victorious,” he said.
He also said the JD(S) would convene a meeting of its legislators and legislative council members on Wednesday to work out the party’s electoral strategy.
“We will move forward according to the strategy formulated by our senior leaders. Necessary discussions regarding the election will be held in the meeting, and appropriate decisions will be taken,” he said.
“We will move forward according to the strategy formulated by our senior leaders. Necessary discussions regarding the election will be held in the meeting, and appropriate decisions will be taken,” he added.
