Karnataka by-polls: BJP, JD-S opportunistic parties, lack commitment, says Siddaramaiah

After the Congress won both the Mandya and rural Bangalore seats by heavy margins, defeating their rival Janata Dal Secular (JD-S) in their stronghold, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that the people have understood that the BJP and the JD-S are opportunistic political parties who lack commitment to any ideology or policies.

"People are very intelligent in exercising their votes. They have understood that BJP, JD-S are opportunistic political parties. They do not have any commitment to any ideologies or policies. The coming together of these two parties is not based on ideologies or programmes and that is why people have rejected them," he told media here today.

Siddaramaiah further said that the Congress Party raced ahead of JD-S in their own stronghold of Mandya and Bangalore Rural, and added that JD-S has learnt its lesson.

"JD-S has learnt its lesson because they thought it is their domain, Mandya and rural Bangalore," he added.

Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said he was extremely grateful to the people of Mandya and rural Bangalore and added that defeating the JD-S in their heartland is a very commendable achievement.

"I am extremely grateful to the voters, people of Mandya and rural Bangalore for having put their confidence in the Congress Party and defeating JDS in their own stronghold, inspite of the support of the BJP, this I think media should take note and reassess their survey reports of the chances of the Congress Party in the next elections,' he added.

The Congress Party candidates surged ahead of their rival Janta Dal Secular (JD-S) in Mandya and Bangalore rural Lok Sabha constituencies in the August 21 by-polls as counting of votes was taken up on Saturday.

According to reports, actress and Congress candidate Ramya was ahead of her opponent C S Puttaraju by over 12,000 votes while her party colleague D K Suresh in rural Bangalore had established a lead of over 18,000 votes against JDS' Anita Kumaraswamy, wife of former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, in the third round.

The Congress had swept to power in the May Assembly polls and JDS had fought a bitter battle.

Reports state that BJP had backed JDS candidates in the two segments, where by-poll was necessitated following the resignation of N Cheluvarayaswamy (Mandya) and Kumaraswamy (Bangalore Rural) who quit after being elected to the Assembly in May.

Mandya is a bastion of JDS, which won five of the eight Assembly seats in the district in the May elections.