Pics Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Apr 29: District Congress president Harish Kumar stated, “We are confident that the Congress will win by a margin of more than 1 lac votes in Dakshina Kannada (DK) district.”

Addressing the media on Monday, April 29, Harish Kumar said, “The district recorded 78% voting, and the election process was peaceful without any untoward incidents. We thank the voters for their participation. While the Congress has not been victorious in Lok Sabha elections in the district for the past 33 years, the atmosphere in the first phase of the election indicates that we will win 11 out of the 14 districts. Our survey also supports this assertion.”

He also mentioned, “The central government released the drought funds to the state after Supreme Court intervention. The BJP consistently accused the Congress of wrongdoing regarding the drought funds. Ministers like Nirmala Sitharaman and BJP leaders Bommai and Yediyurappa claimed that the drought funds were released to the state. The central government has released Rs 3454 crore.

“We need to thank the Supreme Court for their intervention, as well as the chief minister and deputy chief minister for their continuous efforts in securing the release of funds to the state. The central government's release of funds was due to the pressure from the Supreme Court and to garner votes during the second phase of the election in the state. The BJP leaders should clarify which funds they claimed were released to the state, as they repeatedly asserted that the central government had released drought funds,” said Harish Kumar.

“During the election campaign, several national leaders of the BJP, including Yogi Adityanath, made statements claiming that cow slaughter would increase, Article 370 would be revoked, mangalsutra would be stolen, and more. Congress did not mention any of these claims in their manifesto or elsewhere. The BJP should provide evidence for the statements made by their leaders. We all know who is stealing mangalsutra in Hassan. People are tired of this administration for the past 10 years, where they have provided only an empty vessel to the public,” he added.

When asked about BJP's claim that Congress had accepted defeat and therefore national leaders did not visit the state for campaigning, Harish Kumar said, "We do not have such fear. It is because of their fear of losing that BJP has invited Prime Minister Modi to the state and district, and garlanded Brahmashree Narayana Guru after constantly insulting the saint. BJP has no positives, only drawbacks throughout their administration. The fact that the No. 1 MP was removed from contesting proves that the MP did not perform well."
Regarding the alleged nexus between SDPI and Congress, Harish Kumar said, "We do not have any understanding with SDPI, and they are not part of the INDI Alliance. Even SDPI has not claimed anywhere that they support Congress."

Corporator Shashidhar Hegde, Congress leaders Mahabala Marla, T K Sudhir, Stany Alvares, Prathibha Kulai, GA Bava, MUDA president Sadashiv Ullal, Ashwin Kumar Rai and others were present.