Kumaraswamy terms Chamundeswari outcome as moral victory

Bangalore, Dec 7 (UNI) Putting up a brave face, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today termed a ''moral victory'' for him the Chamundeswari Assembly byelection result, which saw Congress candidate Siddaramaiah scraping through with a slender margin, and rejected the Opposition plea to resign on this ground.

Talking to newspersons here, he said his party would accept the people's verdict with full respect and work more effectively in future to seek their blessings in a bigger way.

Mr Kumaraswamy said the party had performed excellently despite odds as it had to start from scratch. Mr Siddaramaiah had been given full freedom to build the party in the last two decades and hence it was an uphill task to build the party from scratch. However, the party workers had succeeded in it.

Claiming that he was undaunted by the poll outcome, he denied a suggestion that the coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have not worked for the victory of the BJP-backed JD(S) nominee Shivabasappa and said it was only a speculation. In fact, the BJP leaders had cooperated well during campaign, he recalled.

Replying to a volley of questions, he said the party would not split as visualised by the Congress leaders. Every party worker had become more enthusiastic after the byelection and the Congress leaders were only ''dreaming'' about a split.

Asked whether some Ministers worked against the party nominee, Mr Kumaraswamy said it was a conspiracy hatched by the Opposition to break the party and it would not succeed in its venture.

He asked legal experts to go into the details of the new system introduced by the Election Commission, directing leaders to stay away from the constituency after the campaign ended. ''I am neither an expert nor experienced to talk about such issues,'' he added.

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