Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, on Friday, December 1, said that he is ready to take responsibility that the party gives him after the announcement of exit polls predicting fractured verdict in the state Assembly polls of five states. Responding to a reporter's query on the exit poll projections, Shivakumar said, "I do not believe in exit polls personally. You all know what happened to the exit poll projections in Karnataka."
"Only those who spend time on the ground know the reality. Exit polls are sample-based and do not reflect the entire picture of a state," he said.
When asked if Congress legislators will be housed in Bengaluru in view of hung assembly projections in some of the states, the Deputy Chief Minister said, "I am confident that the Congress party will come to power in most of the states, including Rajasthan. We have to work as per the party directives if it is needed." The statements have stirred a debate at the national level as Shivakumar had handled crisis situations earlier for the Congress party.
He had taken care of Karnataka MLAs from Maharashtra at a resort in the outskirts of Bengaluru when the Congress government feared poaching by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Sources say that Shivakumar was targeted by the BJP and sent to jail in the disproportionate assets case earlier. Earlier, Shivakumar had said that he had two choices between joining BJP and going to jail and he chose the latter.
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