Wrong candidate choice caused Congress setback in Karnataka: Moily

Senior Congress leader and former chief minister M Veerappa Moily said on Sunday that wrong selection of candidates and poor strategy are the main reasons for the poor performance of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. 

Moily, who was here to attend the Congress Working Committee meeting, told reporters that Congress in Karnataka should have won at least 20 seats out of 28.  However, only nine candidates won.

“We gave tickets based on caste calculations and moneybags, instead of considering winnability,” the former chief minister said.  

“Just because a candidate has more money, he can’t win the elections,” Moily said. 

The former chief minister, who met Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, said the party should consider loyal workers  while giving tickets for elections to zilla panchayats or other local bodies. “We should focus on strengthening the party at the local level and try to provide corruption-free governance in the state,” he added. 

“Congress leaders thought that the five guarantees will get them votes, like in the Assembly polls. Overconfidence backfired on us,” he said.

Insisting that the five guarantees should continue regardless of the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls, he said the guarantees were the Congress’ promise to voters during the Assembly polls and they should not be stopped.