Seat sharing with Cong likely to be finalised by Mar 13 or 14, says Deve Gowda
Bengaluru, Mar 11: JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Monday said seat sharing with coalition partner Congress In Karnataka was likely to be finalised by March 13 or 14.
Amid confusion about the seat he would be contesting from, the former Prime Minister clarified that he has not yet reached any final decision on it.
"Today mostly some Congress leaders may have gone to Delhi.
Tomorrow after discussing with them on the seat sharing issue, a discussion will be held with me also and a final decision may be arrived at," Gowda said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said "...in one or two days- by March 13 or 14 on the seat sharing issue, we will reach a final stage."
A meeting on seat sharing between Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Gowda at Delhi last week was inconclusive.
However, scaling down his party's demand, Gowda had asked Congress to allot at least 10 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats to his party.
JD(S) had earlier demanded that it be given 12 seats.
According to sources, the Congress may concede a maximum of eight seats to the JD(S), but the constituencies are yet to be finalized.
The Congress held its screening committee meeting under the leadership of party General Secretary K C Venugopal in Delhi on Monday to discuss about seats and candidates.
The Election Committee of the Karnataka Congress that met on Thursday had finalised a panel of names for 15 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
While it is clear that Hassan and Mandya, where JD(S)has sitting MPs, will go to it, along with Shimoga, where Gowda has already declared that former MLA Madhu Bangarappa will be the candidate, both parties need to finalise on the rest of the seats that will go to the regional party, sources said.
Meanwhile, Gowda, who held meetings with JD(S) leaders along with party state chief H Vishwanath, said candidates would be decided after discussions with party leaders, once Rahul Gandhi conveys his decision about seats.
"Mandya and Hassan matter is known to you, no need to talk about it further. Other constituencies we will discuss," he added.
Gowda has already indicated that his grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna will be the JD(S) candidates from the party bastion of Mandya and his home turf of Hassan, respectively.
While Nikhil is the son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy,Prajwal is the son of Gowda's elder son and PWD Minister, H D Revanna.
Sharing of seats from old Mysuru region is expected to be an acid test for both the parties, as JD(S) considers it as its bastion, and Congress has its sitting members from most of the seats there.
There is pressure from within the Congress not to cede too many seats to the JD(S), especially the 10 where the party has sitting MPs.
To a question on the constituency he would contest from, the JD(S) patriarch said he has not decided on it yet.
"...there are reports that I will be contesting from Mysore, Tumkur and Bangalore North. But I have not decided yet, we are discussing...," he added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
