‘Life has won over emotion, trust has won over power politics in the election’: DK Shivakumar

BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said life has won over emotion in this Lok Sabha elections. “The election results have proved that there is no more Modi and Ram Mandir wave in the states of North India”, he said.

Addressing a media conference at his Sadashivnagar residence, he said that as the president of the Congress party in the state, he will respect the verdict of the people in the state and the country. “Politics of trust politics has won over power politics. Life has won, emotion has lost in the country. The BJP was saying that they would win 400 seats. It is not possible. In the state we have seen an increase to 9 from one position”, he said.

“The BJP and their team didn’t get 400+. From one Lok Sabha seat, we reached nine in Karnataka. In my constituency, the BJP’s Dr CN Manjunath has won the polls. People have given us a message. I was expecting 14+ seats in Karnataka. We will find out why we didn’t get more seats. But the Modi wave is down. In Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, the NDA Alliance got some support. In Ayodhya, the BJP has lost the election. Last time, NDA was at 303, but now it’s at 294 seats. Even the NDA has not achieved what it claimed and is dependent on other parties”, he said.

“I personally congratulate Dr Manjunath on his victory in my constituency. The individual won here, rather than his party. He was made to contest by the BJP in a very calculated manner. I did not expect such a huge margin of defeat. My brother gave his best to his constituency, and there was no anti-Congress wave. But people made Manjunath win to give him a chance. I was expecting a lead of 60,000 votes in my constituency. But I did not expect such a huge difference. I understand the message given by people through this result. The verdict of a voter cannot be not questioned. We should have come a long way. We wonder why it was less. We expected more seats from guarantee schemes. We will check what issue people disagree with us about, and we will fix it in the next few  days,” DK Shivakumar added.

“Modi’s popularity has waned, even in the Hindi speaking regions. Everyone must accept that the BJP does not have an absolute majority. Just as I suffered a setback in my constituency, the BJP suffered a setback in Ayodhya too. After 10 years, the Congress party has crossed over 100 seats, and people have put their trust in the Congress party again. This has made the PM realise he can’t make the country ‘Congress mukt’, he said.

“The party has seen recovery due to our leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Mallikarjun Kharge’s constant efforts. Priyanka Gandhi has contributed a lot. The vote share of the Congress party has also increased. Compared to the assembly elections in old Mysore, the voter turnout for the Lok Sabha elections has fallen, and this difference has been seen since the beginning. This was also the case during S M Krishna’s government. That is the political nature of this state. We thought it would change this time. But it didn’t happen. In Channapatna, the expectation was reversed. We learn a lesson from this. Personally, I have some doubts. However, I respect people’s judgment. People have blessed us in Kalyana Karnataka. Mansoor Ali Khan suffered a defeat at the last stage. This is very common in politics. We will correct our mistakes”, he said.

Answering the question of whether the guarantee scheme did not lift them, whether he is satisfied with the result or not,, DK Shivakmar said, it is not possible to say that right now. “We thought that the party would win in at least 14 constituencies. Some other places, but did not get the expected level of results. It cannot be said that the guarantee schemes are not fully implemented’.

Asked about the exit poll being fake, he said, “I don’t believe in post-election polls. We thought we would get a double digit position. We were in double digits until the last moment. We thought that some works would get votes. But the votes did not come at the expected level.”.

“We fielded good candidates. All are eligible candidates. All the workers had done a good job. I don’t blame any activists. I respect people’s  decisions,” he added.