Reacting to allegations that the Congress’ claim to come back to power is based on a fake survey, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday said that more than the survey, the successive victories in recent elections show that the Congres is gaining in strength.
“The BJP leaders are talking that Congress will come to power. We have conducted a survey that showed that situation is favourable to the party. Even if surveys are kept aside, we have done well in Council elections where the party had lost in Mandya and Tumakuru when we were in power,” he told presspersons here.
He said: “We have to use the opportunity now. We have won graduates and teachers constituencies that we had not won. I will not say surveys are accurate always, but Council results show that we have done well.”
When asked if a compromise was brought about between him and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah over the Chief Ministerial post, he recalled past developments when despite not getting ministerial roles he had not spoken. “Party is more important than individual,” he remarked. Mr. Shivakumar said that party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have decided to face elections with collective leadership.
To another question if Siddaramotsava being organised as part of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s birthday was a show of strength, Mr. Shivakumar said: “Let us do whatever is good for the party. We cannot say it is wrong. Individuals have different ways of celebrating birthday. I went to Kedarnath with my family and had told that I don’t want any celebrations or publicity for my birthday. Mallikarjun Kharge’s followers want to celebrate his 50 years of being legislator and MP and G. Parameshwara’s fans want a book to be released. Can fault be found with this?”
