I'm your son, strengthen my hands: Shivakumar in a seeming Karnataka Chief Ministerial bid

'I'm asking you as Karnataka Congress president bowing to your feet and asking you to give me the strength, give me an opportunity to serve you,' he said

In what is seen in some quarters as another attempt by him to openly express his Chief Ministerial ambitions, Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar on Friday urged voters in Vokkaliga-dominated Mandya to support the party in the upcoming Assembly polls. Shivakumar, who is a Vokkaliga, had earlier too called on the Vokkaliga community, which forms a major vote bank in the old Mysuru or southern Karnataka region, to strengthen his hands.

"I'm standing before you as your son, I'm asking you as a son of the soil, as the son of Doddalahalli Kempegowda. I'm asking you as Karnataka Congress president bowing to your feet and asking you to give me the strength, give me an opportunity to serve you," Shivakumar said. Speaking at the Congress's 'Praja Dwani Yatre' here, he said, "Voting JD(S) is of no use, it is like making BJP win." "I'm asking you with folded hands, your son has become the State Congress president, strengthen my hands, make all seven (Congress candidates in Mandya) win," he added.

Mandya is a JD(S) bastion, and the seven seats in the district were won by the regional party in the 2018 Assembly polls. AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were among several leaders present at the rally, wherein Shivakumar sought people's support. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are nursing Chief Ministerial ambitions if the party comes to power after the polls due by May.

This has resulted in political one-upmanship between the two.