DAVANAGERE : “People have faith in Congress, as we keep our word. We are confident of winning the two by-elections to Davanagere South and Bagalkot,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here on Monday.
After accompanying Congress candidate from the Davanagere South Assembly constituency, Samarth Shamanur, he said, “Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Samarth’s grandfather) was a six-time MLA from Davanagere South. His son, SS Mallikarjun, who is a minister, has been elected twice. Congress is strong in Davanagere South as Shamanur Shivashankarappa did a lot of development projects as a minister, MP and MLA, which is sufficient for the Congress candidate’s victory.”
He said that as per Congress’ tradition, where tickets are given to the family of the deceased leader, the party has asked Samarth to contest. Also, what will ensure his victory is the effective implementation of guarantee schemes in the constituency. “Congress has partially fulfilled the promises made before the elections. If one looks at the budget, it is clear that we do what we say,” he said.
“In the last by-elections in Shiggaon, Channapatna and Sandur constituencies, we won by a huge margin. In Channapatna, by 25,000 votes, in Sandur 9,000 and Shiggaon 12,000 votes. This clearly indicates that we are winning the two by-elections,” he said.
Siddaramaiah also said he will take part in the election campaign from April.
On BJP’s claim that the by-elections are a compass to BJP’s victory in 2028, he said that by-elections were held in the past too, but Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy lost in Channapatna and former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s son lost in Shiggaon. Asked whether Congress is encouraging family politics, he said, “No. The candidate chosen unanimously by party workers has been fielded.”
39 candidates file papers in Davanagere South seat
As many as 39 candidates have filed 45 nominations for the Davanagere South bypoll.
Voting will be held on April 9 and the counting on May 4.