Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress President D. K. Shivakumar will leave for Goa on the evening of Tuesday March 8 to handle the situation in case of a hung assembly in the State. “You will see what happens in Goa on March 10,” he said here on Tuesday before rushing to the Coastal State.
The results of the Assembly elections are going to be declared on March 10.
“I have been instructed to go to Goa by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and I am going. The party has given me a responsibility. I will go to Goa as a party worker,” he said.
He said he doesn’t trust the exit polls. Barring Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is going to win in all other states.
Shivakumar is scheduled to leave Bengaluru at 8.00 pm on Tuesday and will reach Goa at 9.30 pm. Sources said the Congress is not taking any chances this time, learning from the previous experience.
Shivakumar is going to camp in Goa till the new government is formed. Sources close to Shivakumar said that he will put in maximum efforts to install a Congress government in Goa, as he is eyeing the post of Chief Minister in Karnataka after the assembly elections in 2023. “This is an opportunity for Shivakumar to impress the high command, which will take him one step closer to the coveted post.”
ABP-C-Voter exit polls have predicted 12 to 16 seats for the BJP and 13 to 17 seats for the Congress. Though Congress emerged the largest party in 2017 assembly elections by winning 17 seats, the BJP seized the opportunity and managed to form the government in Goa. BJP had then deputed Union Minister for Road Transports and Highways Nitin Gadkari as a trouble shooter.
Dinesh Gundu Rao, Former Karnataka Minister who is In-Charge of AICC Goa desk, has said if his party falls short of majority mark of 21 seats, it will seek the support from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) to form the government.
Shivakumar, regarded as a master strategist and a resourceful man, is said to be a great advantage for the party. Shivakumar played a key role in installing the Congress-JD (S) coalition government even as BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Karnataka. He has come to the rescue of the party whenever its government is threatened in Maharashtra. He hosted Congress MLAs in a resort much to the chagrin of the BJP.
Later, Shivakumar was jailed for 50 days in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Shivakumar had said that he was sent to jail because he did not join the BJP. With huge resource capabilities, Shivakumar could prove to be a shot in the arm for the Congress in the crucial negotiations with the legislators of other parties in Goa.
