Top Congress leaders were distinctly happy after Congress-JD(S) alliance managed to stamp its authority in the assembly bypoll results in the state. Alongside winning all the seats where they were incumbent, the big scalp for the alliance was Bellary where a relatively unknown Congress candidate managed to comfortably defeat senior BJP leader Sriramulu's sister Shanta by over 2 lakh votes.
State Minister DK Shivakumar who played a titular role in first getting the alliance on place after Assembly polls, and secondly getting them to win the trust vote claimed that the bypoll win has a larger significance.
He said that there is a pro-Congress wave in the state and issues like Ram Mandir etc are not a big poll plank in the southern states. He said,"People are looking at what they're going to get, what benefit they're going to get in social & economic sector, admn & transparency". Also, regarding the national trend, Shivakumar said, "n any democratic result, election process...people's mandate is very important. It's the direction to the people of this country".
He also alleged that BJP is still indulging in horse trading whereas Congress has also played fair in Karnataka.