Mocking the BJP statement terming tax cut on fuel as 'Deepavali gift', KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar said the BJP should ask voters whether it was really so.
Speaking to mediapersons in Hangal on November 5 after offering prayers to ‘Gramadevate’ (Goddess Durga), he said they (Congress leaders) had asked whether compensation had reached them and whether gas prices had reached ₹1,000. “To all these questions, the people have given answer in the Hangal bypoll. The prices of LPG, cement, steel have also gone up. They should also come down, isn't it?”
Mr. Shivakumar said he had prayed to Goddess Durga to shed light on Karnataka, which was covered in darkness due to BJP misrule. “The voters of Hangal did not yield to any pressure and did not sell their votes. The voter has trusted us. Both Congress candidate Srinivas Mane and the party will retain that trust,” he said.
On whether he has taken any vow for the 2023 Assembly elections, he said that it was between a devotee and God, and should not be disclosed.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that it would be better if Mr. Shivakumar looks into his party’s affairs as it is on the verge of a split at the national level. Speaking to mediapersons in Hubballi before taking a flight to Bengaluru, he responded to Mr. Shivakumar's claim that many in the BJP were eager to join the Congress after the bypoll defeat in Hangal, saying that Congress had suffered an insulting defeat in Sindgi.
