Cong used money power in by-polls: Shettar

Alleging that the Congress party distributed money to get votes in Jamkhandi and Ballari, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar stated that the Congress' victory in the recent bypolls based on money power is not a true win.

"I campaigned for BJP candidate Shrikanth Kulkarni in Jamkhandi for five days, and I saw people favouring him. There was an expectation of our candidate winning by a margin of 20,000 votes, but Congress distributed money during the last two days, and we have also complained to the election commission," he said.

Shettar told media persons here on Wednesday that the result of this by-election is not an indicator for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Though BJP tasted defeat in Nanjanagud and Gundlupet by-elections, we won there in general assembly elections, he said.

G Janardhan Reddy's statement about the death of Siddarmaiah's son is not the main reason for the defeat of BJP candidate there, but such statements can have little impact during election time. I do not comment on such individual views. We committed a mistake in case of the candidate in Ramanagara and we have to learn from it, Shettar added.