Why BJP's 4/4 Win In Karnataka Rajya Sabha Elections May Be Unlikely
NDTV
Rajya Sabha Elections: The ruling BJP appeared confident of winning the three seats it is contesting in, and made final efforts to ensure all its votes are intact and get cast validly.
As the stage is set for Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka on Friday, suspense continues over the outcome of the fourth seat, to which all three political parties are contenders, despite none of them having adequate number of votes to win it.
The ruling BJP appeared confident of winning the three seats it is contesting in, and made final efforts to ensure all its votes are intact and get cast validly, by holding a mock voting exercise and a dinner meeting for legislators, hosted by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, one of the candidates.
Interesting turn of events took place in the opposition camp, as top leaders of Congress and JD(S) tried to reach out to MLAs of each other, with talks between them to forge some kind of a formal understanding reaching a deadlock, as both parties firmly stuck to their stand.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy had made an offer to trade second preference votes with the Congress and to "start afresh" by forgetting the past between the the two political outfits, but the grand old party made it clear to the regional party that it was now time for it to return the favour, pointing out that former PM H D Deve Gowda got election to RS last time with its support in June 2020.
