Congress gears up to win North Karnataka

Hubballi: Drawing inspiration from the victory in the Assembly byelection in Gundlupet and Nanjangud, the Congress has shifted focus to North Karnataka where the Modi wave helped the BJP sweep the previous Lok Sabha elections. The party in-charge for Karnataka, Digvijay Singh along with KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao held a meeting with several Congress leaders during his visit to Hubballi-Dharwad twin cities on Tuesday and gathered information about the position of the party in the region.

He also discussed strategies to revive the party in the constituencies dominated by the BJP ahead of Assembly elections next year. His visit has re-energized Congress workers in the district where the party is facing internal bickering and groupism.

Singh met several ticket aspirants and conducted a thorough verification of their public support and chances of victory in the next elections. He also studied the performance of Congress legislators in their constituencies and addressed the grievances of party workers. In an attempt to keep the Congress vote bank intact in Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency represented by Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar, Singh highlighted several local issues to channelise public anger against the former CM who is trying to convert Hubballi Sports Ground into a recreation club. Party workers wanted the Congress leader to exert pressure on the state government to take over the sports ground in the interest of the general public.

"Digvijay Singh directed party workers to create more awareness among voters about popular schemes launched by the state government for the poor and backward classes. This will help us  prepare for the next Assembly elections well in-advance and bring the party back to power as the Congress government is not facing anti-incumbency at this juncture. He has also issued guidelines to complete the process of electing new office-bearers of the party by the end of next month", Dharwad rural district Congress president H.V. Madalli said.

Meanwhile, Congress workers complained about the lethargic attitude of several senior leaders in strengthening the party base in the region and sought their replacement with youth in various posts. Singh held parleys with party legislators and directed them to develop close proximity with voters in their constituencies.