Guarantee schemes worked in K'taka; power expected in Kerala, surprising results in TN: Dy CM Shivakumar

BENGALURU: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and State Congress President, D.K. Shivakumar, on Monday said that the Congress government’s guarantee schemes have yielded positive results in the state, expressing confidence over electoral outcomes while also commenting on results in other states.

“Guarantee schemes have worked in our favour in Karnataka. Our government has responded to people’s difficulties, and that is why we have seen good results in the bye-elections. Among other states, we were confident of coming to power in Kerala,” Shivakumar said while speaking to the media.

Responding to a question on the reduced victory margin in Davanagere South, he said, “After so much confusion, we knew a margin of 25,000–30,000 votes would not be possible. But we were confident of winning comfortably. SDPI had an impact.”

On the role of SDPI votes, he said, “The Chief Minister has already spoken about it. I do not want to comment further. We did not take SDPI lightly. It is also a political party, and they have drawn minority votes.”

When asked whether the election results would bring any changes in Karnataka, he said, “Nothing will happen to our state. Some people may be happy and some may be disappointed. Even when there was a double-engine government, they did nothing.”

On the UDF alliance’s performance in Kerala, Shivakumar said, “We had won the local body elections there earlier. The LDF has been in power for 10 years, and people wanted a change. Even during the campaign, people expressed confidence in us.”

He described the results in Tamil Nadu as “surprising,” saying, “A new era has begun there. We could not fully understand the public mood. Local leaders had indicated this. In politics spanning 40 years, relationships and affiliations cannot be easily broken.”