IANS | 30 May, 2023
All India Congress Committee national general secretary (organisation)
and one of the most powerful leaders of the Congress party at the
national level, K.C. Venugopal said that the people of Karnataka were
angry with the BJP government which was mired in corruption and were
waiting for a change.
He is confident that the Congress
will win the polls easily with absolute majority as he believes that
people are waiting for that opportunity, he told IANS during the course
of an interview. Excerpts:
IANS: Karnataka elections are on May 10. What are the prospects of the Congress?
Venugopal:
This election will be a Waterloo for the BJP. The people of the state
are angry with the BJP government and the highly corrupt activities of
the government. The Karnataka government is a joke among the people as
it's the most corrupt government the state has ever seen. There is 40%
corruption in every field and people are waiting for an opportunity to
oust this government. The Congress will win the elections with an
absolute majority and form the government in Karnataka.
IANS:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been stating in public during the
election campaign that Congress promoted terrorism. Your comments?
Venugopal:
How can a person of the stature of the Prime Minister speak like this?
It is the Congress party that lost two Prime Ministers to terrorism.
Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were brutally assassinated by terrorists.
The Congress chief minister of Punjab Beant Singh was also killed by
the terrorists. So the fight against the terrorists was carried out by
the Congress shedding the blood of the party's supreme leaders and what
fight has the BJP or Narendra Modi put up for that. This is totally
unbecoming of the Prime Minister to speak like this against a political
party like the Indian National Congress.
IANS: Congress has
always been lagging behind in North Karnataka in the past few elections
and this has paved the way for you falling short of a majority. Are you
able to make up for the losses this time?
Venugopal: The Congress
is highly confident that we are going to win the North Karnataka belt
comprising the Mumbai-Karnataka region with a good majority. I and the
party observers had held a meeting with the district level office
bearers of the Congress of all the Northern Karnataka districts and have
found that the party is doing extremely well in all the constituencies
at the ground level. The party cadres are enthused at the feedback from
the public and this is the first time in the past several years that the
party is gaining confidence in North Karnataka. In the Old Mysore area
also the Congress is doing extremely well and I have got facts and
figures from the ground level to substantiate my claims.
IANS:
Former Chief Minister and senior leader of the BJP, Jagadish Shettar
resigned from the BJP and is now contesting from Hubbali on a Congress
ticket. Has his joining helped the prospects of the party?
Venugopal:
Jagadish Shettar is a senior leader and one of the prominent faces of
the Lingayat community. The community is angry over the Panchamasali
Lingayat reservation and the resignation of a towering leader like
Shettarji has added to the community's opposition to the BJP. His
resignation and that of former Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi will
definitely affect the voting of the Lingayats and would be in favour of
the Congress party.
IANS: Will there be a fight for the Chief Minister's post among Congress leaders in Karnataka if the party comes to power?
Venugopal:
There will not be any issue among the party leaders regarding the
Congress Chief Minister. If the party attains a full majority, there
will be a unanimous choice of Chief Minister and there won't be any
problem in it.
