Two of six Cong Lok Sabha poll surveys underway

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Congress is in the process of carrying out two of the six planned surveys ahead of the Lok Sabha elections slated for later this year.

The first survey is being carried out by a team from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the other one has been undertaken by Kerala Congress.

The disclosure comes in the backdrop of Karnataka Congress chief and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar proclaiming last week that he wasn’t satisfied with the reports submitted by KPCC observers.

As many as 28 ministers in CM Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet had been appointed as observers to as many seats.

They had named prospective candidates but neither the Deputy CM nor the AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala was satisfied.

As a result, Shivakumar publically said that another survey would be commissioned to identify strong candidates. Siddaramaiah will also commission a survey as is the norm for him.

There is some consternation among Congress observers that the party might be losing the momentum it built up in the lead up to last May’s Assembly elections.

Shivakumar had set aside the lofty goal of winning at least 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats. However, some party estimates suggested they’d be hard-pressed to win 10 constituencies.

They’re hoping that service delivery, particularly by way of the five guarantees will gain them traction among the electorate.

Moreover, the party is finding it difficult to find strong candidates for all constituencies, forcing them to consider ministers.

General elections dif- ferent tale What will make things harder for the Grand Old Party is the fact that the BJP holds a natural advantage in general elections.