Congress confident of winning 25 parliamentary seats in Karnataka

Bengaluru: From bagging a lone parliamentary seat in the 2019 election, the president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday exuded confidence of winning 25 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka out of 28.

Reacting alliance between Janata Dal Secular and Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru that in the previous Lok Sabha election, Congress and JDS had contested together and the alliance between the two parties was expected to fetch more Lok Sabha seats but JDS and Congress ended up winning one parliamentary seat each. “Let’s wait to see what happens in the coming days,” said the KPCC Chief.

In reply to a query that some of the Ministers are reluctant to contest Lok Sabha polls, Shivakumar said “If party high command directs one has to be ready to fight the polls. Even, I should fight, so do the other leaders.”

To begin preparations for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, he said a first round of meeting will be held on Friday evening at the KPCC office which will be attended by former Chief Minister Jagadeesh Shettar and MLA Laxman Savadi and other members of the Election Committee. The meeting will discuss the opinion gathered by Ministers in each of the districts.

It has been decided to give 36 posts to MLAs in Boards and Corporations while party workers will have a share of 39 in the appointments and the appointment list would be out any time, he said.

The KPCC Chief expressed confidence that the denial of Congress leaders to attend Ram idol consecration at Ayodhya on January 22 would not result in a setback to the party, he said, and observed religion should not have a place for politics.