"A warning bell for us...": Karnataka Dy CM Shivakumar on Lok Sabha election results
Jun 10, 2024
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 10 : Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday said that the recent verdict in the general elections was a warning bell and warranted a course correction.
Speaking to reporters at his official residence in Kumarakrupa, Shivakumar said, "We will be holding review meetings with all the leaders. It is time to introspect and make necessary course corrections. The results are a warning bell."
"We have a review meeting for Bengaluru constituencies today and similar review meetings will be held in other constituencies of the State as well. We will announce dates for these review meetings shortly," he said.
On being asked about the AICC President expressing unhappiness about the results of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, he said, "We were confident of winning 14-15 seats, but we have failed to achieve these numbers. We have to accept people's verdict. We haven't got votes even in villages and towns of party leaders, we will deliberate on this."
When questioned about some ministers blaming MLAs for the defeat, he responded, "Nobody has complained about it to me. There is no point in the blame game. Leaders who are in charge of the constituencies must talk to party workers and investigate the reason for the defeat and come out with recommendations".
Even as the Congress won the Assembly elections comfortably in Karnataka, the BJP managed a clear majority in the Lok Sabha elections in the state, taking its tally to 17.
However, the BJP won 26 seats in the 2019 general elections in Karnataka.
Janata Dal (Secular), which contested as an ally with the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), won two seats, taking the total tally of the alliance to 19.
The Congress managed to win seven seats this time, improving its performance compared to the 2019 general elections, when the party won a single seat.
The BJP bagged 240 seats and the National Democratic Alliance secured 293 seats out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Congress fought the election as part of the INDIA bloc and the parties together were able to prevent BJP from getting a majority on its own in Lok Sabha.
