Bhairati Suresh, the lone independent candidate for the Legislative Council polls, who could spoil the chances of the Congress’ fourth candidate M.R. Seetharam, announced on Thursday that he has no plans to withdraw from the contest. Mr Suresh, whose entry into the fray, has forced an election with 12 candidates in the vying for 11 seats, said he has approached the Janata Dal (S), Independents and the BJP but not the Congress, to secure the required 19 votes. The Congress has fielded four candidates and can ensure a comfortable win for three of them while Mr Seetharam will have to test his luck against Mr Suresh.
On his game plan to win the polls, Mr Suresh said he had approached the JD(S) which had promised him the party’s seven surplus votes. "Similarly, all seven independent MLAs have agreed to support me." If Mr Suresh gets 14 votes of the JD (S) and Independents, he needs only five votes to sail through. Asked whether he had approached the BJP to garner the required five votes, he replied in the affirmative. "I met Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and BJP state president, K.S. Eshwarappa. They said they would discuss the issue and get back to me. I hope I will get BJP support. I have requested them to consider transferring the second preference votes of the 120 BJP members to me," he said. Mr Suresh has no plans to seek Congress support as the party is sure to give all its surplus votes to its fourth candidate.