MLC polls: Siddu says Cong performance testimony to party’s strength at grassroots level

Belagavi: ” Our party’s performance in the Legislative Council election is a testimony to the party’s strength at the grassroots level,” said Congress leader Siddaramaiah.

Eleven Congress candidates won from their respective seats in the recently concluded MLC polls in Karnataka.

The ruling BJP fell one seat short of gaining a simple majority, while the JD(S) has won the Hassan seat and is leading in one of the seats in Mysuru. An independent candidate has managed to win one of the two seats in the prestigious Belagavi constituency, they said.

With these results, BJP’s strength in the 75-member ‘Upper House’ has gone up from 32 to 37, while the Congress’ tally declined from 29 to 26, and the JD(S)’ numbers came down from 12 to 10 (if it wins Mysuru).

Speaking to the media here in Belagavi, Siddharamaiah, said, “This will encourage Congress to fight further for the cause of common man and to face future elections with confidence. We would have won comfortably in more than 15 seats if other parties had not joined hands internally. These backdoor politics is common and we will face this in future also.

He added, “BJP is aware that they cannot win any elections based on their zero achievements. Hence they made news about anti-conversion law during the election.”

The election was held on December 10.

(With inputs from ANI)