The election committee will be formed today. (Representational)
After a show of united strength at the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka, and to keep the momentum going, Congress is now gearing up for the 2023 polls in the state with a 75-day mega campaign. Set to begin in the first week of January, the campaign will cover all 224 constituencies.
Riding high on the Himachal win and following a crucial meet with the congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress unit in Karnataka will today form a 'Congress Pradesh Election Committee' to screen candidates applications.
Speaking to NDTV on finalising of tickets to candidates, Saleem Ahmed, the working president of Congress said, "1300 applications have come for 224 assembly constituencies; we are short listing it. An election committee will be formed today. We are going to send the applications to districts to get a report from block presidents, and later the names will be screened."
Some constituencies, we have received 10 and some others 5 application. We will shortlist it two or three. By end of the December we will file for 150 constituencies. We will indicate the names, and high command will instruct them to start work for elections," he added.
Amid the widening rift between DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah - the two big faces who have been fighting for the Chief Minister's post, Mr Ahmed clarified that as of now the yatra will be led by both the powerhouses unitedly, however he could not confirm if that they would maintain a united front throughout the campaign programme.
"As of now, no, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar won't spearhead the campaign separately. We will do it together. Together we will travel as it starts on the first week of January. As of now both are starting the yatra together," he said.
At the high-level meeting held in Delhi on Monday, some of the agendas discussed included forming a framework of political strategies for the next 100 days in Karnataka. A convention will be held in Vijayapura district on December 30 to discuss the long-standing Krishna river dispute, followed by a roadmap to resolve the Mahadayi water dispute between Karnataka and Goa on January 2, following which a rally for the Scheduled Castes and Schueduled Tribes on January 8 in Chitradurga of Karnataka.
When Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was questioned about Congress collectively launching their grand campaign plan before upcoming assembly polls, he said it is their internal matter.
The chief minister added "The Congress Party announced two conventions in regard to Mahadayi, Krishna and SC/ST. It was the Congress party which was responsible for the Mahadayi project to become controversial. The party supremo Sonia Gandhi during the election campaign in Goa declared that not even a drop of water will be diverted anywhere."
During the first week of January, the Congress will launch a bus yatra which will cover all district headquarters.
Trying to emulate the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the south, the Congress leader said that the yatra is going to be a historic one.
On Congress planning a full-fledged campaign, and speaking about the strong anti-incumbency wave against the Bommai-led-BJP government, Ravi Kumar, MLC of the BJP said, "Yes, we are facing strong anti-incumbency. But our Jana Sankalpa Yatra has so far covered nearly 75 constituencies, and it's an ongoing campaign and we have received great response so far."
The BJP MLC added, "Our winnable constituencies increased after the MLAs defected from other parties to BJP. And hence BJP will come to power again."
BJP, after the Jana Sankalpa Yatra, will be launching a rath yatra across all 224 constituencies after January.
"The bus yatra by Congress is being done to show that there's so rift between DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. The bus yatra is done for benefit of the the Congress and not for the people. Who's the Chief Minister's face of Congress? There's infighting in the party for the party" the BJP MLC added.