From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, June 5: Former Union Minister and AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes, a prominent leader from coastal Karnataka, filed his nomination papers for the June 17 Rajya Sabha polls on Saturday.

KPCC President R V Deshpande and working president D K Shivakumar and several Congress leaders accompanied Fernandes while filing the nomination papers.

However, the suspense over the candidate for the seat remained unresolved as neither the Congress party nor the ruling BJP, which have surplus votes, had not made up their mind on their plan of action.

The Congress party had sought to have a seat-sharing understanding with JD(S), which with 27 seats in the legislative assembly is unable to get its candidate elected on its own and had agreed to vote for the second candidate from Congress in return for the latter’s support to have a second seat in the legislative council.

But the opposition of JD(S) for fielding AICC secretary B K Hariprasad, who incidentally is also from the coastal region, and the demand of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy for the candidature of real estate magnate Kupendra Reddy, resulted in a break-down of the understanding.

Consequently, the Congress party fielded two candidates while BJP had four and JD(S) had to be content with one seat. Though there was no possibility of reaching any further understanding between Congress and JD(S), some of the leaders are still hopeful of somehow salvaging a deal.

The final decision will be known only on Monday, the last date for filing nominations, even as speculation in political circles in ripe regarding the possibility of liquor baron and UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya or Sajjan Jindal of Jindal Group entering the fray with the support of JD(S) members backed by either Congress or BJP respectively.

Fernandes, who spoke to reporters after filing his nomination papers, said the Congress high command would decide fielding of the second candidate on Monday.

Elections are being held for four Rajya Sabha seats on June 17 with BJP having already fielded its former national president Venkaiah Naidu, who has already completed two terms as a representative from Karnataka, and former Shimoga MP, Ayanur Manjunath, on Wednesday. BJP can gets both its candidates elected comfortably with about 26 surplus votes.

Asked about the alliance between the Congress and JD (S) on supporting the second candidate, Fernandes said the party leaders would utilise its surplus votes but whom to support to be decided in two days.

Congress Opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah declined to comment on the
support to be given to the second candidate. ``It is left to the decision of the party high command,” he said.