Karnataka polls: People clearly want Congress govt, our tally will cross 130 seats, says KC Venugopal
K C Venugopal K C Venugopal
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal who took over as Karnataka in-charge for the AICC in April last year in the run-up to the 2018 Karnataka assembly polls has over the past year managed to bring the Congress party’s organizational set up to a state of election preparedness.
The arrival of Venugopal and his close coordination with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president G Parameshwara is widely believed to have energized the Congress party out of a four-year slumber where the party and government rarely saw eye to eye. On the last day of the filing of nominations of candidates for the May 12 polls in Karnataka the AICC general secretary spoke briefly to The Indian Express about the Congress party’s prospects in the poll:
Multiple surveys seem to be suggesting that the May 12 elections in Karnataka will throw up a hung assembly with the Congress slightly ahead. Is this your reading of the current situation?
This hung assembly talk is a part of the BJP strategy. They will get below 60 seats – you can take it from me. They want to create a momentum around a hung assembly narrative – then undecided voters will think there will be a hung assembly and minority voters will think that if there is hung assembly we can vote for JDS also. This is a clever strategy by the BJP to suggest that there will be a hung assembly. I have seen many elections. I am not a big expert but I have seen the sentiments of the people.
In your assessment how will the Congress party fare in the polls?
We are confident that the Congress will this time cross 130 seats.
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Voters in Karnataka have not voted a party back to power since the 1980s so what is the source of confidence regarding the Congress party’s performance in the 2018 polls?
We have gained this confidence from the people of Karnataka. We are not sitting in Bengaluru and saying that we are confident. It is not like that. I myself have witnessed this during the tour programme of Rahul Gandhiji for 17 to 18 days in the state. I am not talking about workers participation which was big. This is apart from that. We can read the mind of the people – of those standing and watching – there is a clear reflection that they want a Congress government again. It is obvious that they are very happy with the performance of the Karnataka government and that they are not happy with BJP. It is clear that we will cross 130 seats. We are not believing any of these sponsored surveys. We have calculated how many seats we will get and according to our reports and the feedback of our party workers and the feedback of our sympathizers, the feedback of our observers – we are confident that we will cross 130.
Candidate selection has been the bane of the Congress party in Karnataka in the past. This time too there has been dissidence in some places like Bellary where outsiders were given tickets. Will this affect overall performance in the polls?
There has not been much dissidence at all. In 223 seats what was the previous scenario – in 2008 and 2013. There were demonstrations and protests everyday. Now there has been nothing like that. Of course in the Congress party there are many potential candidates in any constituency – often three to four potential candidates or aspirants. It is their right to aspire and it is not a crime. However, after finalization of th candidate by the Congress high command you can see that all the aspirants and potential candidates are now ready to back the official Congress candidate and they are ready to go out to campaign. In only one of two places you can see some resentment.
Karnataka assembly elections 2018: The state will go to polls on May 12 and the results will be declared on May 15. Karnataka assembly elections 2018: The state will go to polls on May 12 and the results will be declared on May 15.
There seems to have been some problems with the candidature of M H Ambareesh the current MLA from Mandya. A popular leader in the Vokkaliga belt has opted out at the last moment…
We had cleared the name of Ambareesh. He is a tall leader of the Congress party especially in the Mandya district. We actually need him in Mandya but he told us today that he is not in a position to contest the election because of his health condition. He also told us that if we propose a party candidate he would support that candidate. He has said this before the media also. Since he said that he does not want to contest I made a courtesy visit to his residence. He showed me the reports of his health condition. I am totally convinced about his health condition. He is in our star campaigners list and he will be with the Congress only and there will be no confusion with that seat.
Read | Separate Lingayat religion: An old demand powered by new politics
The Congress party has lost the moral high ground to question the BJP’s association with tainted politicians like the Reddy brothers of Bellary by fielding former BJP leaders like Anand Singh and B Nagendra who are also accused of involvement in illegal mining operations in Bellary a few years ago…
You cannot compare them like that. Anand Singh is the sitting MLA of the Hospet seat. He wanted to join the Congress party. We discussed this in the party and we saw there was an earlier case against him but we found that he is the winnable prospective candidate from that seat. Our state and district leadership suggested that he can be taken into the Congress if he is willing. We fought against the Reddy brothers and conducted a padayatra from Bengaluru to Bellary and at that time the controversy was connected to senior BJP leaders also. The entire illegal mining revolved around the Reddy brothers. The BJP is now trying to deflect criticism for aligning with the Reddy brothers again by using the names of Anand Singh and Nagendra.
The Congress campaign seems to be deliberately underplaying the Siddaramaiah government’s decision to grant minority religion status to the Lingayat community despite this being viewed as a political move to win support for the party in the majority Lingayat community in Karnataka…
The Congress does not want to play on this or any other religious things. It is not our policy at all. This was not a new demand. The demand for a separate religion status for Lingayats is an old demand. When Yeddyurappa was the chief minister he also asked the central government for recognition of the community as a minority religion. Now what happened is that community leaders and religious leaders approached Siddaramaiah and asked him to look at it. He put up a committee and that committee recommended status of a separate religion and this has been forwarded to the central government. What is wrong in that? If we had not reacted on the demand Siddaramaiah would have been accused of being against Lingayats. Here community leaders all came together and gave a memorandum.
The BJP is using this in the campaign to accuse the Congress of dividing the Hindus….
Yeddyurappa himself has suggested the separate religion status for Lingayats how can they say it amounts to division of Hindus. They are using these things because they have no policies to talk about and not even a proper campaign subject. They are only trying to polarize people with these issues.
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The Scheduled Castes have been a key vote base of the Congress in Karnataka but there are some grievances about Congress policies in some of the weaker groups. Will the Dalit vote slip away from the Congress in these polls?
There will be consolidation of Dalit votes in favor of the Congress. There will be consolidation from all communities including Lingayats and Vokkaligas that is why we are confident of winning more than 130 seats.
The Karnataka chief minister is being fielded from two seats Badami apart from Chamundeshwari. Is this because of a fear that he may lose from Chamundeshwari.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah will win both seats comfortably.
What promises does the Congress party intend to make to the people to win the 2018 polls?
You will know when the manifesto is released by our party president Rahul Gandhi on April 27. We are also planning to release region specific manifestos simultaneously to address the separate issues that concern the needs of the people in four distinct regions of the state.
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