NEW DELHI: A fortnight after its electoral debacle in Karnataka, the Congress leadership is once again revisiting the question of an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular). The immediate cause for the reconsideration happens to be the elections to the Rajya Sabha and the Vidhyan Soudha. The Congress leadership is also weighing an alliance in the next Lok Sabha polls.
Elections are due for four Rajya Sabha seats and one MLC seat in the state. As far as the Rajya Sabha elections are concerned, the winning candidate must get at least 46 votes, while the victorious MLC candidate must get at least 29 votes. Given the composition of the assembly, the BJP is assured of two seats and the Congress one. The Congress has a surplus of 34 votes while the JD(S) has 28. If the two join hands, their candidate will sail through.
Though neither side is ready to talk about it, informal contacts between the two sides have already been established. Both sides are bargaining hard with Gowda lobbying for the second seat for his Delhi-based general secretary Danish Ali in return for JD(S) support for the MLC seat as well as an alliance in the general elections.
But opinion in the state leadership is divided. The group owing allegiance to SM Krishna is opposed to an alliance, while others point to the advantage. “The assembly elections proved that a division of the secular vote helps the BJP,” says a CWC member from Karnataka.
j_ansari@dnaindia.net
