Karnataka Congress to go solo in 2023 Assembly elections, says DK Shivakumar

As the Karnataka Assembly election nears, state Congress president DK Shivakumar on Friday said that his party will fight the polls alone. He also expressed confidence in his party's victory.

"No alliance with anyone, We are going alone. We are fighting alone We will come (to power) alone," Shivakumar told ANI.

His remarks come at a time when Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge chaired the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting to pick candidates for the assembly elections.

ANI quoting sources in Congress said that candidates for more than 100 seats have been finalised. All the sitting legislators will not be repeated as the party plans to drop a few sitting MLAs, sources added.

The CEC meeting was attended by Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala. Surjewala is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of the state.

Congress wants to give more tickets to women and youth: Shivakumar

Shivakumar also stated that his party wants to give more tickets to women and youth to fight the polls.

"Now, I think a big change has come and the entire state is looking for a new government with governance. Karnataka has become the corrupt capital of this country. So, more than 1300 applicants have filed for the Congress ticket and they're very serious contenders," the Karnataka Congress president said.

He added, "But we are not able to give tickets to all of them, only 224 candidates are there. So, we will sort it out...We want the younger generation and more women to be accommodated."

Earlier, Shivakumar had expressed hope that his party will get a majority in the Karnataka polls and that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will get less than 65 seats in 224 member House.

"We are confident of securing good numbers in the elections. We know that BJP will not get more than 65 seats. From what I have gathered from my sources, the BJP's tally might even come down to 40 seats," he said.

The assembly elections in Karnataka are likely to take place in April-May. Major parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-Secular have intensified their poll campaign. Rahul Gandhi will visit Belagavi on March 20 to campaign for the elections.