Bangalore:
Former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular president HD Deve Gowda on Monday denied his party had entered into a tie-up to fight the August 21 bypolls to two Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka.
"Reports of a tie up or understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party are baseless," he told reporters.
However, the ruling Congress asserted that the JD-S had entered into an "understanding" with the BJP.
The elections are being held for Bangalore Rural and Mandya Lok Sabha seats as HD Kumarasway, Mr Gowda's son, and N Cheluvarayasway of JD-S quit after winning the Karnataka assembly election on May 5.
Mandya is about 80 km from Bangalore.
Though Mr Gowda denied any understanding with the BJP, state BJP chief Pralhad Joshi has been saying that Mr Kumaraswamy had approached them for an understanding and talks were on.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday maintained that "JD-S and BJP understanding will help the Congress win both the seats".
"True colours of JD-S have been exposed and people know who is secular and who is communal," he told reporters.
JD-S has fielded Mr Kumaraswamy's wife Anita Kumaraswamy for the Bangalore Rural seat. Her Congress opponent is DK Suresh, brother of Congress legislator and former minister DK Shivakumar.
For the Mandya seat, Congress has fielded popular Kannada actress Ramya while the JD-S nominee is former legislator CS Puttaraju.
Counting is due on August 24.
Winning the bypolls has become a prestige matter for the Congress as these are the first electoral battles it faces after returning to power in the state defeating BJP.
For JD-S, the two constituencies are considered strongholds.