Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar has described the Lok Sabha poll outcome in Karnataka as a “warning bell” for the party and has said the reasons for the poor performance of the Congress will be looked into.
“It is a fact that we were expecting some 15 seats in the State. A defeat is a defeat and we have to accept it. We will convene a meeting to discuss and review the reasons for the loss. We have to find out why this happened and where did we go wrong,” he told reporters here.
Mr. Shivakumar said that AICC general secretary (in charge of Karnataka) Randeep Singh Surjewala and party leader Rahul Gandhi wanted the performance [of the party in the polls] to be reviewed.
Urging partymen not to speak to the media on the poll debacle, Mr. Shivakumar said that the party had seen setbacks on the home turfs of leaders themselves.
“This has happened in my constituency too. We need to understand what went wrong. We have to set things right, and the result is a warning bell for us. Whoever had responsibility for a particular area will have to answer and they have to find out from party workers as to what went wrong.”
To question whether legislators had complained to party over the reasons for the poll defeat, he said: “No one has complained to us yet. There is no use talking about it now. It is better that leaders shut their mouth and not speak in public.”
