Congress government’s future depends on outcome of LS polls, claims HDK

Janata Dal (S) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy triggered speculations on Thursday by remarking that the future of the Congress government in the State will depend on the outcome of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

Janata Dal (S) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy triggered speculations on Thursday by remarking that the future of the Congress government in the State will depend on the outcome of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

“Anything can happen after the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka,” Mr. Kumaraswamy remarked while addressing the introspection meeting of the party that had been organised in Bengaluru to decipher the reasons for its debacle in Karnataka Assembly elections. 

“The Congress dispensation may continue to exist after the Lok Sabha polls or may collapse. I am not trying to foretell anything. But we don’t know what all would take place after the Lok Sabha polls,” he remarked. 

He said though the Congress had come to power by winning 135 seats, the government was facing lack of trust. In such a situation, the JD (S) should focus on strengthening the party organisation and standing by people through issue-based struggles, he told the party cadre. 

Accusing the Congress of doing a volte face with respect to its guarantees, he said the party that earlier said that these guarantees would apply to everyone, was now maintaining that there would be conditions. He called upon party workers and leaders to launch a public campaign on the alleged “hoodwinking” of the Congress. “We need to place before people what Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, D.K. Shivakumar and M. Mallikarjun Kharge said before the polls. This would prompt the people to join the campaign,” he said. 

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who expressed pain over the party’s poor performance in the Karnataka Assembly elections, vowed to strengthen the party in the coming days without compromising with anything. 

Stating that the JD (S) could not match the Congress and BJP in terms of financial resources, he apologised to the party candidates by saying that he could not give them the expected level of financial resources for the polls.