Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda Saturday said the coalition government in Karnataka was functioning "smoothly", as he indicated that the party was looking for 12 out of 28 seats in the state to contest during next year's Lok Sabha polls.
The statement comes days after local JDS leaders and party workers asked the leadership to contest all 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, unhappy over the Congress party's "big brother attitude" in the ruling coalition.
Gowda expressed confidence about arriving at a consensus on seat sharing with the Congress without any "hurdle" and said it was likely to be finalized by January 15.
"Let there be no unnecessary confusion regarding sharing for Lok Sabha seats...Kumaraswamy has expressed his opinion about JD(S) contesting from 12 seats, we (Congress and JD(S)) will sit and decide, we will do the seat sharing smoothly," Gowda said.
He said Congress president Rahul Gandhi was busy after his party's victory in three states and ministry formation exercise there.
Leaders of both parties would discuss seat sharing and try to finalise it by January 15 as Parliament session is on till January 8, Gowda said.
Suggesting that seat sharing would be done without any "hitch" between Congress and JD(S), Gowda said "We may get some seats in Mumbai Karnataka, some in Hyderabad Karnataka and some in old Mysuru region.. though old Mysuru is our base, all the seats cannot be expected from there."
Asked about him contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Gowda, citing health reasons and that age was catching up, said he has "not decided yet."
Complimenting the coalition government on farm loan waiver and other development works, Gowda said seven months had passed and the government was running smoothly despite some "small irritations."
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