Padmaraj R. Poojary, the Congress candidate who lost the Lok Sabha elections in Dakshina Kannada, said here on Wednesday that though the party could not win the seat it had performed well by increasing its vote share in the polls.
Addressing mediapersons Mr. Poojary said that he will involve himself in strengthening the party at the booth level in the district in the next one-and-a-half years.
Mr. Poojary secured 6,14,924 votes (43.43%), which was up from 4,99,664 votes (37.14 %) secured by the Congress candidate (M. Mithun Rai) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Mr. Poojary said that the Congress could make inroads into the vote share of the BJP in the 2024 elections notwithstanding the conditions, which were not conducive for his party. “The Congress is happy that the party was able to win the confidence of over six lakh voters, and increased its vote share,” he said.
Congratulating Capt. Brijesh Chowta of the BJP, who won the election, Mr. Poojary said that Captain Chowta should try to restore social and communal harmony in the district and should focus on development projects. “I will support Captain Chowta in his efforts to restore communal harmony,” he said.
He said that the time is ripe to think over why people in the coastal districts support BJP while people rejected it even in Ayodhya where the saffron party had constructed a temple for Lord Ram.
Replying to a question Mr. Poojary said that he will own up the moral responsibility for the defeat of the Congress in the constituency.
He said that there is nothing wrong in learning from the BJP on how to organise and strengthen the party, and how to reach every family member politically.
Former Congress minister B. Ramanath Rai said that the Congress has won morally in the constituency though it lost the seat. “But, the BJP has lost morally,” he claimed.
He said that the guarantee schemes of the State Government will continue though they did not help Congress win the Lok Sabha seat. The party is happy that the schemes are helping the people economically, particularly the poor, he said.
