Karnataka: Shivakumar rules out coalition for Assembly polls, says Congress a united house

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said the grand old party is confident of forming the next government on its own in the southern state with a thumping majority.

The Congress will not form any coalition ahead of Assembly election in Karnataka in 2023 and the grand old party is confident of forming the next government in the southern state with a thumping majority, state unit chief DK Shivakumar said on Thursday.

File photo of DK Shivakumar with Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah. (PTI)

The Karnataka Congress is a “united house” and will contest in all the 224 Assembly seats in the state on its own under a “collective leadership”, Shivakumar said.

Following a hung Assembly last time, the Congress had joined hands with the Janata Dal (Secular) to come to power in the state with HD Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. BJP's Yediyurappa had managed to engineer a rebellion in the coalition, following the saffron camp came to power in the state.

Shivakumar further said that he is the least bothered about who becomes chief minister and his mandate is to deliver Karnataka to the party in the polls for the betterment of the state. His statement came amid reports of differences between him and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah – both of whom are considered front-runners for the chief minister's post if the Congress comes to power after Assembly election due in April-May next year.

Days ago, Shivakumar had hugged Siddaramaiah on his grand 75th birthday celebration that was also attended by former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

Shivakumar also said the party will come to power in the state after more than 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly.

Speaking about issues that may crop up during ticket distribution ahead of polls, the Karnataka Congress chief said all leaders will sit together and take a unanimous call on it, adding winnability would be the key focus. "We will rectify social imbalance by bringing in youth and women," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

A day ago, the BJP national leadership included former Karnataka chief minister and senior party leader BS Yediyurappa into the 11-member parliamentary board, emphasising its reliance on the Lingayat strongman to retain to power in the state in the 2023 assembly election.

Accusing the BJP of indulging in polarisation in Karnataka, Shivakumar said they know that they are failing in their responsibility and are seeing "the writing on the wall". Therefore, they are trying to "create communal tension and polarisation", a PTI report said.

Speaking about the party's popularity, Shivakumar said just a call for the Freedom March on Independence Day led to a gathering of over two lakh people.

"Just on a small call by me, more than 2.5 lakh people participated in the yatra. These are not my numbers. These are numbers given by the metro in which people travelled," the Congress leader said.

"Freedom March was not my decision, it was the Congress party's programme. Party leaders had a conference in Udaipur and they decided that it is the Congress party that has given freedom, democracy and we should protect that," he said.

Slamming the BJP's claims over providing jobs in the state, Shivakumar said, "If jobs were being created why suicides would have been taking place. There is no policy for job creation."