As the Kolar parliamentary seat has become a bone of contention between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular), the latter has convened an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the issue.
While the JD(S) had been claiming for over two months that it would get Hassan, Mandya, and Kolar seats as its share in the arrangement between the coalition partners, issues have cropped up in the Kolar reserved constituency.
The JD(S) sources say the party now believes that “invisible hands” in the local BJP unit are at work in foisting a candidate, an influential former Minister from Bengaluru, for the seat. The development comes a day after the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi where the issue came for discussion.
Candidates are yet to be announced for these seats that will go to polls in the second phase on April 26. If Kolar slips out of the JD(S) hands, it will be left with only two seats to contest, down from the seven it contested in 2019 in alliance with the Congress, and 27 it contested in its first parliamentary polls in 1999.
The BJP sprung a surprise when its candidate S. Muniswamy won the seat in 2019, defeating seven- time MP and former Minister K.H. Muniyappa despite the saffron party not having a base. Infighting in the Congress, and the JD(S) cadre opposed to the JD(S)-Congress alliance had made the upset possible.
“Mr. Kumaraswamy has convened an emergency meeting to discuss the Kolar seat following pressure from party leaders. The party feels slighted at the move of the BJP State unit in foisting a candidate after the JD(S) was asked to prepare the ground in the constituency,” the sources told The Hindu.
“Party leaders are now urging the top leadership that it should not succumb to the pressure and surrender the seat. We definitely have numbers that fare better than the BJP in Kolar. Leaders are suggesting for a friendly fight.”
In light of the development, the former Prime Minister and party supremo H.D. Deve Gowda is likely to speak to the BJP central leaders.
The JD(S) was hoping to get Kolar since its legislators represent Srinivaspura, Shidlaghatta, and Mulbagal Assembly segments coming under this Parliament seat, and lost narrowly in Bangarpet, Malur, and Kolar Assembly constituencies. It had also sounded out a leader, who lost the Assembly elections by a narrow margin, to be its candidate.
Party sources said that they trust Mr. Shah to resolve the issue amicably.
