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By India Today News Desk: The Congress’s Karnataka chief, DK Shivakumar, maintained he is not a contender for the chief minister’s post and that the party leaders will sit together and decide once the results are out. The party is pegged to log a resounding victory in the southern state with nearly 120 of the 224 assembly seats, exit polls showed.
“The Congress will win 23-24 seats in the Vokkaligga belt. I am not a contender for anything yet. The Congress has made me its state president. We all will sit and decide together,” Shivakumar told India Today TV.
The party concentrated on the local issues which resonated with the voters, he said. “We want local issues to be addressed. That is the priority. Our leaders also decided that we will focus on the local issues. They (the BJP) tried to deviate to the communal angle. We did not. The people of Karnataka are convinced of the image which has been built – to have a corruption-free government, a development-oriented government, a government with a vision for a better Bangalore and for a global Karnataka,” he said.
Also Read | Congress set to dislodge BJP in Karnataka with 122-140 seats, predicts India Today exit poll
Did the BJP’s Bajrangbali spin to the Congress’s poll promise of banning radical organisations like the Bajrang Dal shake him on the last leg of the campaigning?
“I was not shaken at any moment. The media picked up the (Bajrang Dal) issue but that is not the issue. The issues are price rises and local issues. You cannot fool the people of Karnataka like the people of UP and other north Indian states,” he asserted.
The Congress is set to return to power in Karnataka with a clear majority, bagging 122-140 seats, according to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll. The BJP, which ran a high-voltage campaign, is likely to finish second with 62-80 seats, the survey showed. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) will come in a distant third with 20-25 seats. Other parties are likely to get 0-3 seats.
Also Read | BJP likely to sweep Coastal Karnataka, JDS may not open account
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