Bengaluru, 4 April

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday said that the Congress’s strategy of convincing people about the success of the guarantee schemes was working very well for the upcoming bypolls. He said that people who used to vote for the BJP will now support the Congress.

“Both Bagalkot and Davangere are very positive. Congress workers are doing an excellent job, going door to door and convincing people about the guarantee schemes,” Shivakumar told reporters in the City on Saturday.

“Even those who voted for the BJP earlier are saying they will vote for Congress. People want the guarantees to continue and are expressing difficulties due to rising prices,” he said.

The guarantee schemes include ‘Shakti’, ‘Gruha Lakshmi’, ‘Gruha Jyoti’, ‘Yuva Nidhi’ and ‘Anna Bhagya’.

Expressing confidence of an improved electoral performance, he added, “There is a strong sense that we will win with a bigger margin than before.”

The bypolls in the Bagalkot and Davangere South constituencies are scheduled to be held on 9 April.

The bypolls were necessitated by the demise of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and HY Meti, who represented Davangere South and Bagalkot constituencies, respectively.

The Congress has fielded Shivashankarappa’s grandson, Samarth Shamanur, in Davangere South and Umesh Meti in Bagalkot. They are locked in direct contests with BJP candidates T Dasakariyappa and Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.

Shivakumar also said he would travel to Kerala for two days and resume campaigning thereafter. “I am going to Kerala for two days. After returning, we will continue the campaign from Davangere,” he said.