Bengaluru, Oct 21 (IANS): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Monday that about 80 per cent of the workers are demanding the candidacy of former MP and his younger brother D.K. Suresh from the Channapatna Assembly seat for bypolls.

He claimed that he clarified to the workers that they must support whoever the high command decides to field.

"We are still recovering from the shock of the Lok Sabha election loss where Suresh lost against C.N. Manjunath by more than two lakh votes. Manjunath had contested Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket. Suresh worked hard but we still lost by a huge margin. Had we lost by a smaller margin, we could have improved our performance. We lost the Lok Sabha badly,” said the Deputy Chief Minister.

He added that if we start to think that JD-S is weak, then “we will be the biggest fools”.

“We have discussed and gathered opinions of the ministers. Instead of a meeting of the election committee, we have discussed with the election in-charges. The decision on the party's candidates has been made. We will submit the proposal to Delhi, and they will make the final decision.”

Commenting on allegations by Union Minister Kumaraswamy that Congress leaders were in contact with BJP MLC and ticket aspirant for Channapatna, C.P. Yogeshwar, he said, “I have not met or spoken to Yogeshwar. There has been no meeting or discussion between us.”

He added that Yogeshwar is a sitting member of the Legislative Council and since the MLA position from Channapatna became vacant, Congress has been working to organise the workers.

On the alleged rift between BJP and JD-S, the Deputy Chief Minister said that he is not aware of any conflicts between them and the media has not reported anything about it.

“Channapatna is naturally a JD-S stronghold. Kumaraswamy was the sitting member. But media reports suggest he is surrendering the segment to the BJP. If he gives up this area, it will lead to the party losing its existence,” the Deputy Chief Minister claimed.

He added that Suresh has worked hard and the Congress is confident of winning the Channapatna Assembly seat.

On heavy rains in Bengaluru, the Deputy Chief Minister said that many people have built houses in low-lying areas, and when heavy rain occurs, water inundates those houses.

“We need to find long-term solutions for the areas where water stagnates and problems arise. We are moving towards forming a committee for this,” the Deputy Chief Minister claimed.

He added that the citizens should also provide information about which areas are facing such problems.

“I have discussed this with the chief engineer and have been in touch with the BBMP control room since last night and received information. I was planning to visit some areas this morning, but the BBMP officials are currently engaged in relief work in some areas, so we should not obstruct their efforts,” he claimed.