Bengaluru, Nov 7 (Agencies) : JD(S) leader and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday congratulated both the Congress and JD(S) leaders and party workers in the state and at the Centre for their hard work and dedication for ensuring historic victory in the Karnataka by-election 2018.
Kumaraswamy said the BJP calls the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka ‘Apavitra Maitri’, but today that contention has been nullified. He also alleged that the BJP is offering around Rs 25-30 Crore to some Congress and JD(S) MLAs but they will never be able to poach them.
The Congress-JD(S) alliance won 4 out of 5 seats – Bellary, Mandya, Ramanagaram and Jamkhandi – in the Karnataka by-election 2018 while the BJP won Shimoga Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday. JD(S)’ LR Shivaramegowda won Mandya parliamentary seat with a margin of 32,4943 votes while the party’s Anitha Kumaraswamy won Ramanagaram assembly seat with a margin of 10,9137 votes and Congress’s AS Nyamagouda won Jamkhandi assembly seat by a margin of 39,480 votes. According to latest reports, Congress’ VS Ugruppa won Bellary parliamentary seat with a margin of 2,43, 161 votes.
Terming the recent win in the Karnataka by-election 2018 as the first step, Kumaraswamy asked the JD(S) workers to work in tandem with the Congress to ensure victory in the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Karnataka chief minister also said the win in 28 Lok Sabha seats is neither an empty boast nor arrogance since the people of Karnataka have reposed their faith in the Congress-JD(S) coalition and voted for it. Speaking on the celebration of Tipu Jayanti, Kumaraswamy said he had never asked people to celebrate or not to celebrate Tipu Jayanti, but all he said was there are many communities in the country, people want to celebrate jayantis (birthdays) of their leaders and if the (BJP) don’t like to be part of the celebrations, there is no need to participate in it.
Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said the people have rejected BJP and it is also a rejection of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Karnataka by-election results will send a message to the entire country that the time for change has come, said Rao, as Congress-JD(S) alliance, leads on 4 out of 5 seats in the state.
On being questioned, if the Karnataka by-election results 2018 will give a message to the whole nation before 2019 election, Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar said that in any democratic result or election process, people’s mandate is very important and it’s the direction to the people of this country. “I think as far as southern India is concerned, you can’t make Ram Mandir and all those issues a political plank. People are looking at what they’re going to get, what benefit they’re going to get in the social and economic sector, and transparency,” Shivakumar added.