After horse-trading claims in RS polls, Kumaraswamy calls Congress ‘B’ team of BJP

BENGALURU: As the polling for Rajya Sabha elections was under way in Karnataka on Friday afternoon, Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumaraswamy called the Congress the “B” team of the Bharatiya Janata Party and blamed the grand old party for BJP’s rise in the country.

Kumaraswamy also said his own party MLAs are not voting for JD(S). “I had said that Srinivasa Gowda will vote for Congress. SR Srinivas also didn’t vote for JD(S). Congress has shown its true face today. Congress is the ‘B’ team of the BJP. They are the main culprit for the rise of the BJP in the country,” Kumaraswamy told media persons.

A controversy over cross-voting and horse-trading in the Rajya Sabha polls sparked off in Karnataka after Kumaraswamy claimed that Congress leader Siddaramaiah was pressuring JDS MLAs to not vote for their own party but that of the candidate of the grand old party. “Yes, definitely. He is pressurising them not to vote for JD(S),” Kumaraswamy told media persons on being asked about Siddaramaiah’s claims that some JD(S) MLAs were in touch with him.

The former Karnataka chief minister also pointed out that Siddaramaiah had refuted allegations of writing an open letter to JD(S) MLAs requesting them to cast their “conscience vote” in favour of his party’s candidate. “Today, before local media he (Siddaramaiah) has said that he didn’t write to my MLAs. He had even tweeted the letter from his social media account. Now, he’s denying what he said yesterday. This shows his double standards,” the JD(S) leader added.

He also alleged that BJP general secretary CT Ravi was seen entering the Congress office in the state. “C T Ravi is BJP general secretary, so how did he enter Congress office? This shows that C T Ravi went to meet Siddaramaiah for his cooperation in the victory of the BJP candidate,” he said.

“We have confidence that we have 30-31 votes. JD(S) K Srinivasa Gowda has expressed that he will vote for Congress. Now, let us see,” he added.

In Karnataka, JD(S) has fielded entrepreneur and social worker Kupendra Reddy as its first candidate in the Rajya Sabha election, while the Congress had fielded Mansoor Ali Khan as its second candidate to corner the JD(S) and its bid to send Kupendra Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.

Six candidates are in the fray for four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka. (ANI)