Karnataka - Bangalore   

Congress firm on not taking outside support

Bangalore: With the completion of two phases of Assembly elections covering 155 constituencies in the State, senior leaders of the Congress met here on Friday to finalise a strategy to win maximum seats in the crucial third and final phase (69 seats).

The meeting convened to was attended by the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh, election management and coordination committee chairman S.M. Krishna, KPCC manifesto committee chairman C.K. Jaffer Sharief and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan.

Mr. Krishna told The Hindu said that the feedback received from the 66 constituencies in 10 districts was encouraging and the party was going to win a large number of seats.

He said that the candidates in this phase were asked to augment the efforts of those contesting in the 69 Assembly segments of eight districts in the third phase which were crucial to gain majority in the lower House.

Though the party has been geared to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party by its horns, Mr. Krishna said that the leaders were trying to tie the loose ends for the final phase of elections. Congress president Sonia Gandhi would address election meetings on Saturday in Hubli and Gulbarga. This will be her third and last visit to the State as part of campaiganing.

Rahul Gandhi has been requested to address a meeting on Bidar on May 18 and he may campaign for the party candidates in some other constituency also. All the senior leaders such as Mr. Krishna, the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramiah, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Ministers Shanker Singh Vaghela, Shakeel Ahmed, Kapil Sibal, Shelja and Namo Narayana Meena and Administrative Reforms Commission Chairman M. Veerappa Moily are touring these constituencies.

Mr. Digvijay Singh and Mr. Krishna exuded confidence that the party would manage to get majority and form the government and the question of taking any outside support would not arise.

Asked about the low turnout of voters in the second phase owing to high temperatures in northern parts of the State, Mr. Krishna said that it was time the Election Commission woke up and learnt from this experience, so that it would not repeat the mistake again. The Congress, he said, had pleaded before the commission to fix the dates keeping in view of the sufferings of the people, who would not come out of their homes. In the process, it is the democratic process which suffers, he added.

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