Surveys are wrong, BJP will win Karnataka comfortably, asserts Bommai

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday junked pre-poll surveys predicting an Congress edge in assembly elections and asserted that the BJP will retain power with a “comfortable majority”.

And the BJP will form the government again after the May 10 electoral battle without the support of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Bommai told PTI.

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Bommai, however, said whether he will continue as chief minister in the event of a BJP win will be decided by the BJP “high command” and Parliamentary Board.

Accusing the Congress of taking the election discourse to a “very low level”, he said: “We know how surveys are made. I am expecting a comfortable majority… We will get an absolute majority.”

Shettar’s fate

He said that former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who defected to the Congress after the BJP denied him ticket to contest, will lose this time. But the 14 defectors who helped the BJP topple the Congress-JD(S) government in 2019 will win, he added.

“We will win Shettar’s seat,” Bommai said.

On caste-based quota, he said internal reservation under OBCs and other things were a long pending demand. “I have addressed” them.

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“We have recommended the internal reservation; ultimately the Government of India has to take a call.”

Ahead of the elections, the Karnataka government created two new categories of OBCs to include the Lingayats and Vokkaligas to provide the benefits of reservation.

Dismissing the Congress “40 per cent commission” charge against his government, Bommai retorted: “Let the press or opposition or the contractors association show one case (against our government). I will answer.”

Opposition blamed

He blamed the opposition for the saffron party not raising development issues in the election campaign. “We have done a lot of development in the state. They are going to fail.”

Bommai admitted that BJP legislator Basangounda Patil Yatnals Visha Kanye’s remarks abusing Congress leader Sonia Gandhi were “not normal”. But he said the election discourse had been taken to a “very low level by the Congress”.

“It started with Congress. The Visha Sarpa (venomous snake) remark was made at none other than (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi by AICC President (Mallikarjun Kharge). That’s how the reaction comes. You cannot say and get away,” he said.

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The chief minister is seeking re-election for the fourth consecutive time from Shiggaon in Haveri district. Pitted again him are Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan of the Congress and Sashidhar Yeligar of the JD(S).

Bommai said he was “very confident that all sections of the society and all castes will vote for me”.

On water and drainage issues in the constituency, he said these were gram panchayat issues. “They are temporary and will be solved later.”

(With agency inputs)