Real estate baron Kupendra Reddy’s entry stirs Karnataka Rajya Sabha pot, Congress prepares for the heat

“The cat has been set among the pigeons. The move is to create confusion in Congress ranks, as there are many disgruntled individuals and divisions in the party that can be exploited,” a senior leader in the JD(S)-BJP alliance said.

Ironically, in the 2022 Rajya Sabha polls, it had been cross-voting by two JD(S) MLAs that had caused the surprise defeat of Reddy, then a JD(S) candidate. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is believed to be still smarting from the loss of his close aide, which happened when the Congress did not transfer its excess votes to Reddy, and instead fielded an extra candidate, Mansoor Ali Khan. The BJP’s dark horse Lahar Singh won the seat after two JDS MLAs cross-voted, and later joined the Congress.

Each Rajya Sabha candidate needs at least 45 votes in the 224-MLA Karnataka Assembly to win a Rajya Sabha seat from the state. The Congress with 135 MLAs has the exact number to elect its three candidates — Ajay Maken, a central Congress leader seen as the choice of the high command; Nasir Hussain, a confidant of Mallikarjun Kharge; and party faithful G C Chandrashekhar. Party sources said they were also confident of the support of three Independents.

The BJP has 66 MLAs, which means it can easily get its main candidate, party worker Narayansa Bhandage, elected, with votes to spare. Combined with the 19 JD(S) MLAs, this means enough votes to help Reddy win, provided he can win over the three Independents and get at least three Congress MLAs to cross-vote. This is where his money power could play a big role.

Congress chief and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar alleged this week that Kumaraswamy had approached a few Congress MLAs on behalf of the “fifth candidate of the JD(S)-BJP”. “We know who he is calling, what he is saying and who he is threatening. Our MLAs have told us about the offers they have received. We are also aware of the BJP’s strategy,” Shivakumar said.

Reddy has also been associated with the Congress earlier, having contested a 2008 Assembly poll on its ticket. In recent years, though, he has always been seen on Kumaraswamy’s side, including at the alliance meetings with BJP leaders like Amit Shah and J P Nadda for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

A land and IT park developer, Reddy has connections across parties, and owns multiple businesses in Bengaluru, ranging from high-end car sales to real estate. He was the owner of the Mysore cricket team in the Karnataka Premier League, for which he bid under the name of his car sale business, Sirish Automobiles, in 2008, bagging it for Rs 3.25 crore.

The long history of cross-voting in Karnataka Rajya Sabha polls includes the 2016 incident when eight of the JD(S)’s 40 MLAs voted for a Congress candidate to defeat the JD(S)’s wealthy candidate B M Farook. The MLAs were later suspended. Many are now Congress MLAs.

BJP sources said one of the reasons why its MP and Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrashekhar, himself a wealthy businessman and one of Karnataka’s four retiring Rajya Sabha MPs, is not trying re-entry into the Upper House from the state, is the party’s lack of faith in the JD(S). Chandrashekhar is tipped to contest the Lok Sabha polls instead.

A Congress leader alluded to the JD(S) history of cross-voting to say: “On February 27, many of its MLAs will do cross-voting. It is the JD(S) that will be in trouble again, not the Congress.

Congress leaders added that CM Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who are known to have differences, had put these aside to ensure a united front for the polls.