Karnataka Deputy CM Shivakumar to campaign for Rahul Gandhi in Raebareli

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said he will campaign for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli.

The state Congress president also expressed confidence about the INDI Alliance coming to power in the country after the polls.

“I’m going to Raebareli for (Lok Sabha) election campaigning in Uttar Pradesh. I won’t be here (Bengaluru) for two days, I’m leaving today. I have requested that no one should come (near my residence) to celebrate my birthday (May 15) and there should not be any celebrations,” Shivakumar said.

“There is a good atmosphere everywhere and the INDIA bloc will win, and I’m confident that we will form the government,” he told reporters here.

The Raebareli seat had earlier been held by Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi, his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his grandfather Feroze Gandhi.

The constituency will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election. Rahul Gandhi also contested the ongoing Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad segment in Kerala, which went to polls on April 26.

Shivakumar has already urged his supporters, party workers and fans not to celebrate his birthday on May 15 in view of the severe drought in the state, and also not to come to his residence or office as he will be traveling for election campaigning.

Reacting to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s reported statements regarding efforts to replicate the ‘Maharashtra model’ to topple the Congress government in Karnataka, he said, “I feel that his (Shinde) own government will be in trouble as things may reverse there.”