Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar said on Tuesday that with former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and ex-Deputy CM Lakshman Savadi joining, the party would win 150 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Speaking to reporters Shivakumar stated that with this development the voters of Veerashaiva and Lingayat community will go with the Congress. “Our survey projected 141 seats. Now, with the joining of Shettar and Savadi we will reach 150,” he said.
“After the arrival of these two leaders, the vote share of Congress in the Lingayat community has increased by two to three per cent. I am giving an open invitation to all BJP leaders who agree to the ideology of the Congress party to join. Let us join hands and together save Karnataka. Let us bring change,” he said.
“Our candidates are being raided and threatened. We are not scared of the ED and I-T. We are going to teach them a lesson in this election. Not only candidates of the Congress party are targeted, but the industrialists who are in touch with us also are raided. They are scaring those who are in touch over the phone as well,” Shivakumar claimed.
“It is being told not to support the Congress party. People are scared to receive our calls. But, no one is touching the BJP leaders as if they are upright and honest to the core. We know what is happening and we will face it,” he maintained.
Forcefully thrown out by BJP: Shettar
The 67-year-old six-time MLA and former state CM Jagadish Shettar joined the Congress after alleging that he had been humiliated by the BJP.
“I was forcefully thrown out of the party that I built…I’m joining the Congress by accepting its ideology and principles,” he told reporters on Monday.
A prominent Lingayat leader from north Karnataka he rose from a minister, Speaker of the House, Leader of the Opposition and ultimately the Chief Minister during his time in the BJP.
(With inputs from the agencies)
