Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday congratulated her party unit in Karnataka on winning bypolls to two Lok Sabha seats.
Gandhi telephoned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and told him: "Your efforts have yielded results. I congratulate you and your team. Take the state forward with your good work," according to an official release.
Siddaramaiah thanked Gandhi for the confidence reposed in him and assured a strong, stable and people-friendly government for the state, the release said.
The Congress wrested Bangalore Rural and Mandya Lok Sabha seats from the Janata Dal-Secular. Mandya is about 80 kms from here.
Balloting took place Aug 21 and votes counted Saturday.
D.K. Suresh and Ramya of Congress defeated Anita Kumaraswamy and C.S. Puttaraju of JDS in Bangalore Rural and Mandya constituencies respectively.