Bengaluru: We should not be daunted by defeat, the future of this Congress Government depends on the result of the next Lok Sabha elections. This Government may or may not last. Anything can happen, said JD (S) party leader H. D. Kumaraswamy and alleged that the Congress won by trickery through giving false guarantees and coupons to the people.
He spoke at the JD(S) introspection meeting held at the Palace Grounds in the presence of Former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda. “We should keep the Congress guarantees before the people. Agitation should be taken up against the Congress which is not doing as it said,” he noted.
On the occasion, he advised the workers and leaders that the people should be made to join the movement. Kumaraswamy announced that he will work without compromise to strengthen the party in the coming days. If we win, we don’t go looking for reasons for winning. If you lose, you have to find the reasons. I know what those reasons are, and at the last moment I could not give my candidates the expected financial support. At the last minute, it was difficult to help the candidates of my parties, he said.
He apologised to the losing candidates saying that he will publicly apologise for not standing up for your help.
The Congress party systematically spread slander. It came to power by deceiving people by giving false guarantees and coupons. AICC President Mallikarjuna Kharge did his own trickery. He criticised that his party raised a community against us. Congress and BJP parties spent a lot of money. Lures were exposed. I could not compete with them. I was not going to do such a thing. We did not criticise anyone on a personal basis. We kept the issue of development, he said. The Former Chief Minister lamented that we had to lose for that.
We raised our voice on behalf of a society that was shaken by the BJP, we gave unwavering support, we stood bravely when the BJP Government gave them trouble every step of the way. Financial problems were the reason for our defeat. We did not pay for the expenses of the candidates. We could not spend on par with BJP and Congress parties. The defeat of Suraj Naik Soni from Kumta constituency, who lost by just 600 votes, hurt me deeply. Don’t be shocked by the result. In 1989, Deve Gowda lost in two constituencies. Five years after that, a full-fledged state government came under the leadership of Deve Gowda and he became the Chief Minister and then the Prime Minister, he noted.
He warned the leaders that such a defeat is not permanent, so don’t lose heart like that. The future of this government depends on the result of the next Lok Sabha elections. This government may or may not go. I am not predicting, I don’t know what development is going on after that, he said.
He clarified that anything can happen. Congress has won 135 constituencies, but there is a lack of confidence in that Government. They are unable to do people’s work. But let us pay attention to the organisation, we have to fight thematically. Let’s strengthen the organisation and stand with the people, he said.
The Former Chief Minister criticised the District Presidents of the party for failing to prepare competent candidates and organising the party at the District level. The presidency is not one’s own. Organisation was not done properly. No one has worked efficiently, and the organisation has failed at all levels. The situation has come where I have to find a candidate myself, so what did the District President do? Are they there for decoration? He expressed outrage.
We cannot conduct elections with money. Politics cannot be done. Politics should be done by winning the hearts of the people. The government, which had promised to implement five guarantees, now seems to be applying the condition.They promised it’s free for me and free for you are now talking about the conditions. What did Siddaramaiah say, what did DK Shivakumar say? What did Kharge say? This is what we should put in front of the people, he said.
Kumaraswamy expressed his deep dissatisfaction with the party organisation in the city of Bangalore and said that the party organisation in the capital has fallen into disrepair over the past many years. When the elections are near, you will come and take away the credit , and then you will do match fixing with someone, he lashed out bitterly.
Former CM HDK, who gave an order to the State President C. M. Ibrahim who was sitting on the dais to make four presidents for the four divisions of the city, shouted that if given to one, he would have a single empire.
Former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda addressed the gathering.