Bengaluru: With Lok Sabha polls round the corner, the coalition partners in the State Government JD(S) and Congress are likely to seal seat sharing in a week with the Congress likely to get 18 seats and the JD(S) 10 seats.

As a first step in this regard, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is flying to New Delhi this evening to hold talks with AICC President Rahul Gandhi.

The JD(S), which has reportedly asked the Congress for 12 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the State, may ultimately get 10 seats while the Congress will contest the remaining 18 seats.

On Monday, JD(S) State President A.H. Vishwanath, KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao, Deputy CM Dr. G. Parameshwara and PWD Minister H.D. Revanna held talks on seat sharing at Kumara Krupa Guest House in Bengaluru, during which the two parties are said to have discussed strategies to win maximum number of seats from the State.

Speaking to press persons after the meeting between Congress and JD(S) leaders over seat sharing, Deputy CM Dr. Parameshwara said that the talks with the JD(S) was held as per the directions of the Congress High Command. The meeting discussed the poll strategy to be adopted for winning 25 out of the 28 LS seats from the State.

Maintaining that defeating the BJP was more important than the number of seats that coalition partners would share, the Deputy CM dismissed any confusion over seat sharing and the winnability factor was the sole criteria for fielding of candidates.