BENGALURU: The Congress on Monday identified four seats from which it will allow alliance partner JD(S) to contest — Hassan, Mandya, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada — but talks for four other seats that the regional ally has demanded are likely to take till Thursday, with state party leaders voicing their opposition to handing over the high-profile Mysuru-Kodagu constituency or seats represented by sitting MPs.Congress Legislature Party leader and former CM Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao, who participated in the party’s screening committee headed by AICC president Rahul Gandhi on Monday, urged the high command not to concede Lok Sabha held by party MPs.“We requested the party top brass not to part with seats represented by Congress MPs,” Siddaramaiah told reporters in New Delhi soon after meeting Rahul.Sources said Siddaramaiah asked party leaders to keep Congress’ relevance in the Old Mysuru region intact by not conceding the Mysuru-Kodagu seat, while batting for a ticket from the segment for his fellow Kuruba leader and former MP from Mysuru CH Vijayashankar. Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, some senior JD(S) leaders who held a meeting under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Monday urged him to contest from Bengaluru North against likely BJP candidate and Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda.After the meeting, Gowda said there was pressure on him to contest from Bengaluru North, Tumukuru or Mysuru-Kodagu. “I am yet to “take a decision,” he said.One of the chief reasons why Gowda cherry-picked Bengaluru North is because of the dominance of the Vokkaliga community in the constituency, which has two JD(S) and five Congress MLAs. He said the seat-sharing pact between Congress and JD(S) would be finalised by Thursday.After releasing a performance report, Sadananda Gowda was nonchalant about the possibility of Deve Gowda taking him on. “I respect Deve Gowda, but I don’t feel intimidated by him. All these days, I have fought against small fish. But this time, I will be taking on a big man. I am happy about it and confident that I will emerge victorious,” he said.A Congress source said there will be clarity after another meeting between the two parties that is scheduled to take place in New Delhi in the next two days.

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