Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday said that many Opposition political parties from across India had unanimously formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and safeguard the country’s democratic institutions.
Mr. Shivakumar chaired a meeting with leaders of the State units of the Aam Aadmi Party, CPI, and CPI(M), All India Forward Bloc, and Nationalist Congress Party, and said the alliance was stitched “to save democracy and the Constitution in the interest of the people of the country.”
Speaking to reporters here, he said according to a survey, the Congress would emerge victorious in 20 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. The party won just one seat in 2019.
Lashing out at the Centre for its attempts to silence the Opposition through IT/ED raids, the KPCC chief said the party cadre would work from the booth level to ensure the victory of the Congress. He also criticised Home Minister Amit Shah’s silence on the State’s demand for drought relief.
On alliances with smaller parties in Karnataka, he said, “The Congress and the JD(S) fought the 2019 elections in Tumakuru together. The CPI party secured 17,000 votes and [JD-S candidate] H.D. Deve Gowda lost the election by a mere 12,000 voters. We don’t want similar situation in the 2024 elections. Hence, we want all the alliance partners to work unitedly. We are discussing this.”
Joins party
The KPCC chief said the former Union Minister C.M. Ibrahim’s son is keen to join the party. Several BJP and JD(S) leaders have been showing interest following frustration with the functioning of leaders in those parties. The former MLA K.P. Bachhe Gowda, and senior leader Putta Anjanappa from Chickballapur joined the Congress.
