Prez poll: Cong suffers from fear of defeat, says K’taka CM Bommai

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday charged the Congress with indulging in ”low level kind of politics” as it suffers from the fear of defeat of joint Opposition pick for the Presidential election Yashwant Sinha.

He said they were confident that the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu would win the presidential polls. ”We are confident that she (NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu) will win with two-thirds majority”, he told reporters here. ”The Congress is suffering from the fear of defeat, and we see their low level kind of politics everywhere,” Bommai said when asked about the Congress criticising the JD(S) for supporting Murmu despite attending a meeting of opposition parties to field their consensus candidate for the poll.

As a matter of principle, the JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had announced his party’s support soon after Murmu’s name was announced, he said, noting that parties like the Shiv Sena, BSP and JMM are also backing her.

”Congress should understand that in certain things they have to follow the principle of goodness and uphold the spirit of national unity,” Bommai said.

”Not only the BJP or NDA but also many in the opposition parties are supporting Droupadi Murmu. She had served as a public representative, as minister and also as a Governor. She had proved herself as an able administrator,” he said.

Bommai said a candidate from a tribal background getting to the top-most position in the country shows the vibrancy and maturity of Indian democracy. He also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for creating a ”movement” by selecting a tribal leader as an NDA candidate and sending across a message to the entire country of social equality.

There is every possibility of her breaking all the previous records in terms of victory margin, he said.