Bengaluru: Reacting sharply to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's statement that the JD(S) was not a "beggar" when it came to seat sharing for the coming Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah retorted on Tuesday that the Congress too was not a beggar.
Addressing a meeting of Youth Congress members here, he said neither the JD(S) nor the Congress was a beggar. As the seat sharing ratio was still to be worked out in consultation with JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda the question of who was a beggar and who was not did not arise, he added.
While KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao had been asked to hold a formal meeting with Mr Deve Gowda on Wednesday to discuss the seats the JD(S) was interested in, the Congress had already decided not to part with those seats currently held by its party MPs, he revealed.
Mr Siddaramaiah said the coordination meeting held on Monday had also resolved not to compromise on 10 seats demanded by the JD(S). But as the dialogue was yet to be held with the party, it was too premature to talk about it. "The seat sharing will be decided as early as possible to help us shortlist our candidates and kick-start the ground work in the constituencies," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Gundu Rao clarified that the party coordination committee meeting held on Monday did not discuss anything regarding the distribution of seats among the Congress and JD(S) and the candidates would be announced only after the seat sharing was finalised.
"This has already been discussed with Mr Kumaraswamy and another round of discussion will be held with Mr Deve Gowda on Wednesday.. The party has not taken any decision on giving the seats currently held by the Congress to the JD(S)," he said.
On actor Prakash Rai seeking Congress support to contest from the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Gundu Rao said this would not be possible unless he officially joined the party.
