SDPI leader and candidate from Bantwal Assembly constituency Elyas Thumbe on Thursday said that in the 2018 election, the SDPI withdrew their candidates in a few constituencies after senior Congress leaders approached them for an internal alliance to defeat the BJP.
“In the past, without political maturity, we entered into a wrong internal collusion with the Congress and withdrew nomination papers and made a mistake,” he told mediapersons at BC Road in Bantwal.
He said this time there will be no alliance and SDPI will contest all seats that they have already announced.
“During the previous Assembly election, the SDPI had decided to contest in 25 Assembly constituencies. In the last minute, senior Congress leaders approached us and asked us to enter into an understanding with them to defeat the BJP, field candidates in three places and promised to support us by fielding their (Congress) weak candidates there,” he said.
The SDPI will field its candidates in all the eight Assembly constituencies in Dakshina Kannada. The SDPI is confident of winning Bantwal, Belthangady and Mangalore constituencies which will witness triangle fight in the election, he said.
When contacted, DK DCC President Harish Kumar said “In 2018 election, Congress had not entered into an alliance with any political party. The SDPI is getting support from the BJP to contest the polls to divide the votes. Both SDPI and BJP are communal and like-minded. Even in 2023 election, the Congress want the SDPI to contest the election as a political party,” he added.