Bengaluru: A day before the end of the election campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections, the Congress seems to be Making a last-ditch effort to show that his house is in order, one video at a time.
The party on Sunday released a short video of a “heart to heart conversation” between state unit chief DK Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah – two men whose rivalry made news during the elections, with both coming to power. But he is being seen as a contender for the post of chief minister.
In the five-minute video – the first of a two-part series – senior leaders inquire about each other’s health, share insights from each other’s campaign trail, and follow through on the ruling BJP’s promises made to the people. They also allege that they have not been fulfilled. The second part promises to tell the audience “why people have lost faith in the BJP”.
Sharing the video on Twitter, conceptualized and produced by DesignBoxed, a political consulting firm he worked with, Sivakumar said, “Some conversations are simple and yet most impactful. Amid intense #KarnatakaAssemblyElection2023 campaigns, Mr Siddaramaiah and I sit down for a heart-to-heart talk (Thus).” The Congress has also shared it on the handle of the party.
The video begins with Shivakumar asking Siddaramaiah about his health. “Health is good except for a virus infection in my left hand. It has been painful,” Siddaramaiah replies, pointing to his swollen hand. Shivakumar then noted that Siddaramaiah was also running fever for some time.
The discussion then turns to a helicopter crash that Shivakumar was in. Last week when he was going to mulubagal for the campaign, when a bird hit the helicopter.
“We had a narrow escape in the helicopter crash,” says Shivakumar. “…we were flying high and a reporter was interviewing me for a TV channel. Suddenly the bird came and hit the front glass and it broke. Fortunately, the captain took control of the situation. Otherwise we would never have met!”
campaign trail
The two then go on to discuss their campaign experiences. Siddaramaiah says he has traveled in Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka regions and predicts winning more seats Compared to last time.
“The response of the people has exceeded our expectations,” he said.
Agreeing, Shivakumar says he has traveled to the old Mysore region, Bengaluru city and other areas where he felt the party’s performance would be “disappointing”. “We will win at least five seats in Mandya,” he says.
He says the five guarantees promised in the Congress manifesto have received “incomparable love and support” from women in the state.
Thereafter, the two leaders talk about how to implement these guarantees after the Congress comes to power, but do not talk about the chief minister’s post. “We have to implement it in our first cabinet meeting after winning on May 13,” says Shivakumar.
“Certainly. We cannot keep avoiding it like BJP,” Siddaramaiah replied.
Both also indicate that the BJP is following the plans of the Congress. Speaking about the Congress guarantee of Rs 2,000 per month to the woman head of every household, Shivakumar says, “Our announcement was made on January 14, the day of Sankranti. On 15 January (Chief Minister of Karnataka of BJP) Basavaraj Bommai gave an advertisement regarding the same program saying that he would give Rs 2,000. But only Rs 500 was allocated in the state budget.”
“Having said this, they (BJP) have not reiterated it anywhere,” says Siddaramaiah.
Shivakumar says that after Congress started the above scheme, BJP also promised gas cylinders.
Siddaramaiah recalls how when he was chief minister, he used to oversee the state budget to ensure that the schemes that were promised were implemented.
He said, ‘When I was there for five years, while preparing the budget, I used to see how many of our promises have been fulfilled and how many more need to be fulfilled. But it does not make any difference to the BJP.
Shivakumar then attacked the BJP, saying that, at the state investors’ meeting, no one wanted to invest money in projects in Shivamogga, Malnad and Karavali districts. On this Siddaramaiah says that nothing will happen on the ground.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)