Shivakumar gives credit to CM Siddaramaiah's leadership

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday gave credit to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's leadership as well as the five guarantees for the Congress party's success in the assembly bypolls. Shivakumar said this victory was a prelude to the 2028 assembly election where the party would once again win. The Congress won the Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur Assembly segments. The by-elections were held on November 13 and the results were announced today. The ruling Congress on Saturday retained its strong hold of Sandur, with its candidate E Annapoorna, winning the seat by defeating BJP's ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu.

In the Channapatna segment, Congress' C P Yogeeshwara won the high profile seat by defeating JD(S) candidate and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy. Similarly, Congress' Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan won the Shiggaon Assembly segment by defeating former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's son Bharath Bommai. "Our guarantees, Siddaramaiah's leadership and our workers and MLAs are responsible for our victory," Shivakumar told reporters. He said neither Nikhil Kumaraswamy nor Bharath Bommai lost the election. In fact, this was the defeat of their parents -Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai. "With this victory, our tally has now gone up to 138.

There are other numbers as well, but I will not spell out how some people have internally supported us," Shivakumar, who is also Congress state president, said. The Karnataka Assembly has 224 seats. The Deputy CM advised his opponents to focus on development works instead of making baseless allegations as it would fetch them nothing but a constant defeat.