Riding on the success of his brother D.K. Suresh in the recent byelections to Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency, the former working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and MLA D.K. Shivakumar has said that he was tapping grassroots level workers and leaders from the three Opposition parties to support the Congress in the general elections.
Mr. Shivakumar said that he had the blessing of the high command for this task and he had started work from the booth and village panchayat levels. He would extend this strategy to cover the entire the State.
JD(S) bungled
He said that his efforts in mobilising the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Karnataka Janata Party workers had yielded “good results”.
The Congress leader, who is among those facing charges of illegal mining and has been denied a berth in the Siddaramaiah Ministry, said that the alliance of the Janata Dal(S) with the BJP had helped the Congress get at least 75,000 to one lakh votes in the byelections.
He said that the Congress victory in Mandya Lok Sabha constituency also showed that the hold of the Janata Dal(S) in the Vokkaliga belt was waning.
Ministerial berth
Asked about his induction into the Cabinet, he said that it was left to the discretion of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the high command. He added that he was “not chasing the post”.
Mr. Shivakumar said that he was meeting party president Sonia Gandhi and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi next week. He added that the leaders, who have feedback about his performance, would decide the issue.
