Guarantee Schemes Boost Congress in Karnataka, Surprising TN Results: Shivakumar

"Guarantee schemes have worked in our favour in Karnataka. Our government has responded to people's difficulties, and that is why we have seen good results in the bye-elections. Among other states, we were confident of coming to power in Kerala," Shivakumar said while speaking to the media.

Responding to a question on the reduced victory margin in Davanagere South, he said, "After so much confusion, we knew a margin of 25,000-30,000 votes would not be possible. But we were confident of winning comfortably. SDPI had an impact."

On the role of SDPI votes, he said, "The Chief Minister has already spoken about it. I do not want to comment further. We did not take SDPI lightly. It is also a political party, and they have drawn minority votes."

When asked whether the election results would bring any changes in Karnataka, he said, "Nothing will happen to our state. Some people may be happy and some may be disappointed. Even when there was a double-engine government, they did nothing."

On the UDF alliance's performance in Kerala, Shivakumar said, "We had won the local body elections there earlier. The LDF has been in power for 10 years, and people wanted a change. Even during the campaign, people expressed confidence in us."

He described the results in Tamil Nadu as "surprising," saying, "A new era has begun there. We could not fully understand the public mood. Local leaders had indicated this. In politics spanning 40 years, relationships and affiliations cannot be easily broken."

On questions regarding the absence of Rahul Gandhi alongside M.K. Stalin during campaigning, he said, "I will not comment on that. We went there as per the high command's decision."

Asked whether celebrity appeal influenced voting, he said, "We expected around 30-40 per cent of votes to go that way, but they have received even more."

On Assam, he said the party did not achieve expected results. "We had hoped for 50-60 seats, and local leaders had also indicated we would reach that mark."

When asked about the reasons for the loss, he said, "During constituency delimitation, minorities were consolidated in certain areas. This appears to have been done strategically."

On West Bengal, he alleged misuse of power. "There has been systematic misuse of authority. The Election Commission has been misused to the maximum extent possible. More than two lakh votes were deleted, which has impacted the outcome," he claimed.

- IANS