BENGALURU: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday said Karnataka may face snap polls before 2028. “We are not going to remove the Congress government, but it will fall on its own as its pot of sins is full. We need not wait until 2028 for the elections as we may face them before that,” he said at a public rally at Iggaluru village in Channapatna taluk.
He claimed that if elections are held, JDS will win all the four seats in Ramanagara district. Both Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who are waiting for the by-election to Channapatna, have already started campaigning. Shivakumar recently told voters that they should elect the Congress candidate taking him into consideration, while Kumaraswamy appealed to voters to elect the BJP-JDS alliance candidate.
Though there was pressure from JDS workers at the public rally to field his son Nikhil, Kumaraswamy did not accede to their demand. “Whoever may be the candidate, you should ensure that person’s victory,” he said.
“There is no confusion as BJP and JDS leaders will sit across the table and decide on the alliance candidate,” he said.
Nikhil told the media that he is focusing on organising the party and will not contest the bypoll. At the rally, he said that during his tour of six districts, he understood the pulse of the people and voters want Kumaraswamy back as chief minister, considering his performance as CM in the past.
The father and son attacked Shivakumar, saying he visits the district only during elections, and forgets the constituency once the polls are over. They felt that people of Channapatna will not let JDS down as they have consistently voted for party candidates.
“I have contributed immensely for the overall development of the constituency and under the present Congress government too, I have received grants by requesting the ministers concerned. Let Shivakumar, who has visited Channapatna 20 times in the last three months, produce documents on his contributions to the constituency,” Kumaraswamy challenged. He alleged that Shivakumar took credit for developing three government schools under the CSR initiative, though the work happened when he was the constituency MLA, he added.
Nikhil claimed that Kumaraswamy has got the district development work worth Rs 1,500 crore. On Shivakumar’s allegation that Kumaraswamy let down the people of Channapatna by resigning as MLA, Nikhil explained, “It was inevitable for Kumaraswamy to contest the Mandya LS polls as the situation was like that in the state. But he is still concerned about the people of Ramanagara district.”
