BENGALURU: HD Deve Gowda, national president of Janata Dal (Secular) and former Prime Minister, on Wednesday after holding talks on seat sharing with Congress President Rahul Gandhi claimed that his party has “clinched” 10 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka while maintaining that final decision will be taken by president of the coalition partner Congress.
“Several points about seat sharing were discussed. We wanted 12 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, now we have come down to 10 seats. The final decision will be taken after Rahul Gandhi discusses it with KC Venugopal (of Congress) and Danish Ali (of JD-S),” said the JDS supremo while speaking to media after meeting Rahul on the issue of seat-sharing in the state for Lok Sabha elections.
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On March 3, Deve Gowda had said that they had agreed to join hands with the Congress to revive secular forces.
“The two parties will finalize seat-sharing very soon,” he had said.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, on February 28, had said that if the Congress and JD(S) alliance won at least 20-22 seats in the state then a Kannadiga could once again become the next Prime Minister of the country.
The Congress and the JD-S are in alliance in the Karnataka government. There are 28 Lok Sabha seats at stake in Karnataka, out of which the BJP currently holds 16 seats, while the Congress and the JD (S) hold 10 and two seats, respectively.
With agency inputs