For Council polls, Gowda now backs Cong man

Having opposed the Congress during the trust vote in Parliament on July 22, former prime minister...

Having opposed the Congress during the trust vote in Parliament on July 22, former prime minister Deve Gowda8217;s party Janata DalSecular sang a different tune in Karnataka on Monday, promising to support a Congress candidate for the post of the Legislative Council LC chairman in polls to be held shortly.

8220;They have sought our co-operation and we have responded unconditionally. Politics at the Centre and in the state is different,8221; MLA and party convener Y S V Datta said, adding they had only sought the post of the deputy chairman of the council in return.

Gowda8217;s son and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, too, echoed the view that the JDS did not have to toe a common line for national and state politics.

Congress sources said, 8220;We have chosen Veerana Mathikatti as our candidate for the chairman8217;s post in consultation with the high command. We have negotiated support from the JDS in return for supporting their candidate for the deputy chairman8217;s post. We spoke to Kumaraswamy, and they have agreed.8221;

In the 75-member council, the Congress has 29 members, the BJP 28 and the JDS 13 while five seats remain to be filled. The Congress and the JDS had come together in Karnataka in June this year 8212; the first official re-alliance between the two parties after the JDS left the Congress to ally with the BJP to form a government in January 2006.

In June, former Maharashtra governor S M Krishna and mining baron Anil Lad were elected unopposed from the Congress to the Rajya Sabha on the basis of JDS support. In return the Congress gave an extra seat to the JDS for the Legislative Council.

Following this unanimous election on June 19, Gowda had stated that the JDS understanding with the Congress would continue even into the Lok Sabha elections, which looked imminent at that time.

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However, on June 22, during the trust vote in Parliament over the Indo-US nuclear deal, Gowda aligned with the UNPA and issued a whip to the three JDS MPs to vote against the Congress-led UPA Government. While Gowda himself and JDS MP from Kerala Veerendra Kumar voted against the Government, the party8217;s third MP M Shivanna defied the whip.

Meanwhile, caste factor is playing a major role in the selection of candidates. Both the Congress and the JDS have been keen on putting up a Lingayat candidate in order to address a community that has become the core of the BJP vote base.

Gowda is said to have been in favour of veteran Congress leader and former Union minister M V Rajashekharan, a Lingayat who enjoys a good equation with him, to be the Congress candidate for the chairman8217;s post. The JDS choice was former education minister and another Lingayat leader Basavaraj Horatti. However, the chosen Congress candidate, Mathikatti, is also a Lingayat.

Sources said Gowda was unhappy with present chairman N Thipanna, though he belongs to the JDS, for his alleged proximity to BJP leaders.