Sunil Kanugolu, a poll strategist who worked behind the success of Congress in the Karnataka election, has been appointed as the chief advisor to CM Siddaramaiah, with the cabinet minister status, Karnataka CMO said, as reported by the news agency ANI on Thursday. Last year, Congress constituted a "Task Force 2024" for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, which includes poll strategist Kanugolu as a member. Kanugolu worked with the grand old party in Karnataka and formulated a strategy for the recently concluded Assembly polls in the state.
In Karnataka Assembly Polls, the Congress won 135 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 66 seats while Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) won only 19 seats. Independents have won two seats while Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha have won one seat each.
Siddaramaiah and state Congress President D K Shivakumar were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively along with eight legislators as Ministers on May 20.
Siddaramaiah has said that the state government has taken a decision to implement all the five guarantees that the Congress party promised during election campaigns in the southern state. The grand old party had focused on five election promises targeting women, the unemployed and BPL families to make a comeback in the state.
Days after the party won the polls and finalised its Chief Minister, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the five promises made by the party will be fulfilled after the first cabinet meeting of the Karnataka government. Gandhi asserted that Congress doesn't make false promises and does what it says. On Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "Govt has taken a decision to implement all the five poll guarantees." He told this to media persons after holding a pre-cabinet meeting in Bengaluru, as quoted by ANI.