With the Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled for next year, state Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Tuesday asserted that the Congress has made chief ministers from almost all communities and therefore a Dalit can also become Chief Minister.
KPCC president D.K.Sivakumar said, “Congress has made leaders of almost all communities as the chief minister of the state. Why shouldn’t a person from the Dalit community become the chief minister?”
“Congress will win more than 136 seats in the next Assembly elections under collective leadership. An internal poll also said that we will get a majority. Veerappa Moily, Gundurao, Bangarappa, Devaraj Arasu, and Siddaramaiah have been the Chief Ministers. Why shouldn’t a Dalit be the CM?” he added.
According to him, the state BJP government is the most corrupt government with a ‘thick skin’. “People are tired of constant scams and corruption. Siddaramaiah’s Congress government had fulfilled almost all aspects of the election manifesto. Has BJP fulfilled 40 per cent of its manifesto?” the Karnataka Congress chief questioned.
He said that once Congress comes to power, it will investigate all the scams of the BJP.
Speaking about Siddaramaiah’s birthday celebration, he said, “Don’t ruminate. There are many milestones in a person’s life. Siddaramaiah’s fans are celebrating Siddaramaiah’s 75th birthday. Rahul Gandhi and I are both participating in the festival. We have no factions. We are a Congress faction.”
Meanwhile, refuting reports of power tussle within Karnataka Congress, state party chief DK Shivakumar on Tuesday asserted that ‘Congress coming to power is more important than him becoming Chief Minister’.
“It is more important for the Congress to come to power than for me to become the Chief Minister. Only if the Congress party comes to power, the post of Chief Minister will be available. The party high command will decide who should be the chief minister candidate. I am the party president after SM Krishna from the Vokkaliga community and I have requested that the Vokkaliga community should stand behind me,” said KPCC president DK Shivakumar.
The next Karnataka Legislative Assembly election is scheduled to be held in or before May 2023 to elect all 224 members of the state’s Legislative Assembly.
