Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, D.K. Shivakumar said Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao stayed away from the Karnataka elections to save his image as all the surveys showed a landslide victory for the Congress.
“However, Mr. KCR extended all the support to the JD (S) in every form. Mr. KCR stayed away only fearing a dent in his image as Congress was coming back strongly,” he said at a press conference in Hyderabad today.
On the allegations that Mr. KCR tried to poach some Congress MLAs before the elections to unnerve the party, he said Mr. KCR has the habit of buying MLAs and he did it in Telangana quite brazenly. He tried it Karnataka too.
Responding to the observation that the Karnataka government is playing a key role in Telangana elections, he said it was out of love for the state. “We are here to help our friends with policies and support the campaign,” he said and dismissed the party pumping money into Telangana elections. “Mr. KCR has his police at the borders and they can check.”
Enough is enough
Mr. Shivakumar predicted a landslide victory for the Congress in Telangana as people have decided, ‘Enough is enough and it’s time to change this government’. His assumption is based on his visit to the constituencies and the response of the people who have already decided to vote out KCR government even before the Congress campaign.
On Mr. KCR’s continued allegations that the Karnataka government had failed in its five promises, he said he had invited the Chief Minister and all BRS Ministers to visit Karnataka to see the implementation but they have refrained. Once the Congress is elected here, it will implement all six promises made to the people. “We are not wooing the voters with the guarantees but they are for social and economic change,” he said. Congress promises should be seen in the light of KCR government burdening the common man with high taxes and high prices.
On the Chief Ministerial face of the party in Telangana, he said Congress has a system of collective leadership and every MLA can be an aspirant. The party high command takes a decision and the government is formed, he said December 9 would be the date for the formation of the Congress government as it was Sonia Gandhi’s birthday.
Bengaluru and Hyderabad are twin cities
On the observation about Karnataka’s role in the Congress party in Telangana, he said Bengaluru and Hyderabad were twin cities of the nation and he would want to see both the cities grow and prosper. He argued that he wouldn’t demolish the structures of earlier governments, unlike in Telangana but prefer the development process to continue.
