HD Kumaraswamy alleges horse trading in Karnataka, accuses Siddaramaiah

Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Kumaraswamy on Friday alleged "horse-trading" in the Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections claiming that Congress leader Siddaramaiah was pressurising JDS MLAs to not vote for their own party but that of the candidate of the grand old party.

"Yes, definitely. He is pressurising them not to vote for JD(S)," Kumaraswamy told media persons on being asked about Siddaramaiah's claims that some JD(S) MLAs were in touch with him.

The former Karnataka chief minister also pointed out that Siddaramaiah had refuted allegations of writing an open letter to JDS MLAs requesting them to cast their "conscience vote" in favour of his party's candidate.

"Today, before local media he (Siddaramaiah) has said that he didn't write to my MLAs. He had even tweeted the letter from his social media account. Now, he's denying what he said yesterday. This shows his double standards," the JD(S) leader added.

Further, Kumaraswamy alleged that BJP general secretary CT Ravi was spotted entering the Congress office in Karnataka.

"CT Ravi is BJP general secretary, so how did he enter Congress office? This shows that CT Ravi went to meet Siddaramaiah for his cooperation in the victory of the BJP candidate," he said.

He exuded confidence that JD(S) already has 30-31 votes in the Rajya Sabha elections.

"We have confidence that we have 30-31 votes. JD(S) K Srinivasa Gowda has expressed that he will vote for Congress. Now, let us see," he added.Meanwhile, Karnataka Minister CN Ashwath Narayan also said that all three BJP candidates will get elected today.

"I am sure that all our three candidates are going to get elected. Even though Siddaramaiah will think two to three times before voting for Congress, I think he will also vote for BJP. Anybody with value for democratic principles will never vote for Congress and JDS," the minister said.

"Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a leader of statesmanship. It is our honour to have such a political leader with no corruption background. Karnataka has benefitted because of her leadership," Narayan added.

In Karnataka, JD(S) has fielded entrepreneur and social worker Kupendra Reddy as its first candidate in the Rajya Sabha election, while the Congress had fielded Mansoor Ali Khan as its second candidate to corner the JD(S) and its bid to send Kupendra Reddy to the Rajya Sabha.

Six candidates are in the fray for four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka.

A day ahead of the polling, former state chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday urged the Congress to give its second preferential votes to JDS, if it really wanted to defeat BJP.