New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi arrived at former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s residence to discuss seat sharing in Karnataka and the JD(S) has settled for 10 seats.

Rahul Gandhi met the JD(S) chief at his residence on Safdarjung Lane, New Delhi, in the presence of JD(S) general secretary Danish Ali.

 JD(S) chief said, "We wanted 12 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, we discussed it and now we have come down to 10 seats. We are a regional party. Now, our general secretary Danish Ali and Congress leader KC Venugopal will hold discussion and Rahul Gandhi will take the decision."

Disagreements between the alliance partners in Karnataka over seat sharing had been an obstacle in deciding the numbers.

JD(S) general secretary Danish Ali affirmed that the talks went on for over two hours where the leaders spoke about the next course of action.

“We are going to have a pre-poll alliance in Karnataka. More or less, discussions are in phase. We are going to announce candidates soon,” said Danish Ali.

The JD(S) had demanded 12 seats including some seats that are currently represented by the Congress. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won nine seats, the JD(S) two and the BJP won 17 seats.

All eyes are on Mysuru as both parties have been arch rivals in the region all these years.

The Congress won seven seats and the JD(S) won two seats from the Old Mysuru region alone. The Congress has categorically refused to give up the seats it won and the Gowdas are demanding at least two seats currently held by the grand old party.

However, Congress is willing to give Mandya and Hassan seats in the region to the JD(S) as it did not win even a single Assembly seat in these areas in 2018 Assembly elections.

Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD minister HD Revanna, and Nikhil Kumar, Kumaraswamy’s son, will contest from Hassan and Mandya respectively, which are currently held by the party.

Two rounds of talks between state-level leaders of both parties were held, and they had failed to make a deal.

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats and the first regional party to join hands with the Congress has been the JD(S).

The two parties faced difficulties agreeing upon one state in the country. However, it must be observed how the Congress strikes its deals when it comes to the Mahagathbandhan.

Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav had confirmed that the Congress is part of their alliance and will contest 2 seats.