Karnataka Poll:Why Cong hopes to win despite Sonia's failure

Bangalore, May 4: Congress President Sonia Gandhi failed to attract people to her rally during recent poll campaigning in Bangalore. Despite such debacle of the star campaigner, the party still pitching for victory in the assembly elections.

G Parameshwar, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President, recently was quoted as saying, "We are confident we will come back (to power). There is no doubt. I said this many times even before the elections that we are going to come back."

The party seems to have garnered the confidence citing the wide open distance between BS Yeddyurappa and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. The former resigned from BJP and formed his own party -- Karnataka Janata Party (KJP).

Experts believe that both BJP and KJP may not come to power as votes will be divided between the two party. Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar recently was quoted as saying, "It's an unfortunate thing. If they (KJP) want to build their party, it's okay. Their aim is to destroy the prospects of the BJP, not come to power."

Meanwhile, Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Kumaraswamy said, "National parties depend on regional parties. Even in Delhi, whether the BJP comes to power or the Congress, they have to run the government on the mercy of regional parties."

Karnataka is going to hold its crucial election in 223 constituencies on Sunday, May 5 and the results would be declared on May 8.

Election campaigns in the state came to an end on Friday, May 3. Both BJP and Congress tried to woo the voters calling star campaigners. While Narendra Modi, LK Advani, Rajnath Singh campaigned for BJP, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh campaigned for Congress.

Crowd at the Palace grounds during Mrs Gandhi's campaign on Thursday was thin and the Congress, which is looking to capture at leas 20 seats of 28 in Bangalore, could not bring in even 50,000 to occupy the empty chairs. A liberal estimate put Thursday's crowd strength at around 20,000. Even the presence of film star Chiranjeevi failed to bring decent numbers by the Congress standard.

OneIndia News