Expressing discontentment over constituencies represented by Janata Dal (Secular) getting priority in the budget, Congress candidates who lost in the recent Assembly polls are learnt to have urged the State and Central leadership to set right the anomaly.
Over 144 candidates attended a meeting convened by the party on Monday and asked the leaders to be careful on sharing of seats for the Lok Sabha with the JD(S).
The meeting, which was conducted following the direction of the party high command, was attended by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister and former AICC president G. Parameshwara, senior leaders Kagodu Thimmappa, Sharanprakash Patil, H. Anjaneya, B. Ramanath Rai, Shivaraj Tangadagi, A. Manju, and H.M. Revanna.
A senior leader, who lost in the polls, said the meeting broadly discussed strategies to be adopted in the Lok Sabha polls, in view of the State having a coalition government.
Most of the former Ministers and legislators are learnt to have said that the proposed move of sharing seats would only strengthen JD(S) in the State and not help in Congress’s growth. Some defeated candidates also complained that a few senior party leaders had “indirectly” helped JD(S) candidates.
It is learnt that most of those who lost in the polls urged the leadership to be cautious in the process of selecting district in-charge Ministers. “Congress should seek the districts, which are being represented by JD(S). For example, as Mandya is being represented by a JD(S) minister, it’s district in-charge should be from the Congress,” said a senior leader.
