Siddaramaiah confident of Congress victory in Rajya Sabha polls

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, 27 February, said that all three Congress candidates will win the Rajya Sabha election.

“AICC treasurer Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain and G.C. Chandrashekhar will win easily in the elections,” the chief minister said.

He said that all the Congress legislators have loyally voted for the party candidates.

“The Congress candidates will emerge victorious. As JD(S) fielded the fifth candidate, we have to get together and cast our votes. They had indulged in luring and threatening our legislators,” the chief minister said.

Reacting to the JD(S) leaders’ call for Congress MLAs to cast votes as per the call of conscience, the chief minister asked, "Where is the conscience?"

“They have named their party as Janata Dal (Secular) and joined with BJP,” Siddaramaiah taunted.

He said that Congress may also get votes from MLAs who have good opinions about the Karnataka government.

On horse trading allegations, Siddaramaiah said: “When we have sufficient votes, what is the need to lure other party MLAs? We are sure of getting votes from independent MLAs. There is no necessity to lure other MLAs.”

Rather, he said, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party and JD(S) that have been indulging in threatening and luring the MLAs. “Let them keep their MLAs intact. Cross-voting is only possible from BJP party leaders,” Siddaramaiah said.