Will lose 25 winnable seats due to funds crunch, still be king, says Kumaraswamy

Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy said that his party is expected to take a "hit" in up to 25 assembly segments, where it had chances of winning, due to financial crunch, in the Karnataka elections held on Wednesday.

Despite financial constraints, his party will be ahead of Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in terms of number of seats won, the former chief minister claimed, as he asserted that his party will be 'king' and not just the 'kingmaker'.

"What has pained me is that I have not been able to financially support several of my candidates. My expectation was that I might get public support in terms of funds, I have taken a hit to an extent. At several constituencies which had winnable candidates like in Chikkaballapura and Doddaballapura, I have failed in financially supporting the candidates at the final stages," Kumaraswamy said.

Speaking to reporters in Badadi, he said because of shortage of funds, in about 20-25 constituencies where he has expectations of winning, there is a setback.

"Some constituencies have taken a good sum of money from party funds and in some winnable seats I have not been able to give enough funds and it has caused a hit. I have not been able to support them as per expectation, as the party did not get donations as expected," he said.

Further requesting the party workers not to develop a "wrong impression" on candidates, Kumaraswamy said, "I have let down candidates, it is my mistake. In about 50-60 seats where our candidates were giving a good fight, I have not been able to give funds as per expectations."

Despite all this and amid a sense that this election is "indispensable" for JD-S, he said, "I had expected more than 120 seats..... but we will still be ahead of Congress and BJP, despite financial constraints."

Asked about the scenario of the hung assembly and JD-S's role then, Kumaraswamy said, "Let's see, I will discuss when such a situation comes."

To a question if JD-S will emerge as a kingmaker in this election, he said, "Not only kingmaker, our party is going to be a king, let us see.”

In the previous assembly elections in 2018, JD-S won 37 out of the total 224 seats.