In what could trigger a further rift between the coalition partners, Public Works Minister H D Revanna on Friday said that the JD(S) is ready to fight the Lok Sabha election in contentious seats and Hassan on its own.
A day after local Congress leaders from Mandya and Hassan met their state leaders and persuaded that the party should not cede the two constituencies to the JD(S), Revanna said, “We are even ready for a triangular fight.”
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Revanna, whose son Prajwal is tipped to be the JD(S) candidate from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, said that the leaders of both parties are yet to take a final call on seat sharing.
“We are ready to enter into a pre-poll alliance with the Congress. Let the Congress take a call on it. If not, we are ready for a three-way fight,” he added.
When asked about the Congress’s opposition to Prajwal’s candidature in Hassan, Revanna said that he is not opposed to his father and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda himself contesting from the seat.
“Let Deve Gowda himself contest. We will ensure that he will win by a big margin,” he added.
Gowda, however, is unlikely to contest from Hassan, a constituency, which has intermittently represented since 1991.
Gowda, is also unlikely to contest from Mandya, a JD(S) bastion, as his other grandson Nikhil Kumar is hoping to contest from there.
It is rumoured that Gowda, who wants to pave way for both his grandsons’ political debuts, is likely to contest from Bangalore North.