LS polls: Siddaramaiah predicts 20 of 28 seats

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday predicted that the Congress-JD(S) alliance would win “at least 20” out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in the 2019 polls.

“The Congress will rear its head up once again in Karnataka. We will have an alliance for 2019 and we will win 20 seats,” Siddaramaiah declared.

The former chief minister campaigned extensively in the Bellary, Mandya, Shimoga (Lok Sabha) and Jamkhandi assembly segments. Except for Shimoga, the Congress-JD(S) alliance candidates won Bellary, Mandya, and Jamkhandi.

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“During the campaign in Bellary, I predicted that VS Ugrappa would win by a margin in 2 lakh votes. Similarly, I knew in Jamkhandi that our candidate would win by a margin of 45,000-50,000 votes. I was proved right because I could feel the pulse of the people,” Siddaramaiah said. The bypoll, according to him, is an indicator of the mood of the electorate going into the 2019 polls.

Siddaramaiah, who became the first chief minister in four decades to complete a full 5-year term, was led the Congress into the May 2018 Assembly polls, in which the party was reduced from 122 to 80. While he did receive brickbats for the downfall, the Congress high command was impressed that the party could win that much under him despite anti-incumbency. As a result, Siddaramaiah was rewarded by being made the CLP leader and member of the Congress Working Committee. He is also chairperson of the Congress-JD(S) Coalition Coordination and Monitoring Committee.

“The BJP kept saying that the Congress-JD(S) alliance was unholy. Was it holy to take away the son of a Congress MLC,” he asked in rhetoric, referring to the saffron party’s decision to field L Chandrashekhar, son of Congress leader CM Lingappa, in the Ramanagara constituency. Chandrashekhar, however, retired from the fight 48 hours before polling. “The BJP has no ideology, moral or principle. They will do anything for power,” Siddaramaiah said.

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