No ‘adjustment politics’ behind Congress poor show: Shivakumar

A day after a few Congress leaders told the fact-finding committee headed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Madhusudan Mistry that “adjustment politics” in some constituencies led to the defeat of party candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said Congress workers fought the election hard, and that there was no “adjustment politics”.

A day after a few Congress leaders told the fact-finding committee headed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Madhusudan Mistry that “adjustment politics” in some constituencies led to the defeat of party candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said Congress workers fought the election hard, and that there was no “adjustment politics”.

“Congress workers were united and worked hard for the party’s success. The party itself instructed some of the Ministers to field their family members to mobilise votes. There was no adjustment politics whatsoever,” he told presspersons who sought his reaction on the issue in Bengaluru on Friday. The fact-finding committee met winners, losers, party workers, and party leaders to analyse the results, and it collected the feedback, he said, adding that it would decide on the course of action.

The AICC-appointed three-member fact-finding committee headed by general secretary Mr. Mistry met with Cabinet Ministers, legislators, Members of Parliament, and party leaders to understand the reasons for the tepid performance of the Congress in the elections. While the Congress won nine seats in the Lok Sabha elections, leaders believe that it lost six or eight winnable constituencies owing to various reasons.

Among the reasons the Ministers and leaders who met the committee on Thursday cited were “adjustment politics”, lack of coordination between the government and the party, and legislators and district in-charge Ministers and children of Cabinet Ministers receiving the ticket to contest elections.

“There was a feeling that we would win a good number of seats and hoped the guarantees would work. Besides constituencies represented by the Cabinet Ministers, the Congress did not get leads in several other constituencies. We tried to win the Dharwad constituency. There was no adjustment politics there. Neha Hiremath murder affected our chances as the BJP indulged in politics,” KPCC working president Vinay Kulkarni, who met the committee earlier, told presspersons.

Party sources said the defeated candidates in the Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2023 Assembly elections met the committee on Friday, and many of them expressed sentiments similar to those expressed by leaders on Thursday. While the fact-finding committee is expected to file a report to the AICC, the KPCC will also send a report, sources said.