Bengaluru, May 13 : Sounding confvident, BJP’s chief ministerial face B S Yeddyurappa on Sunday claimed that the saffron party will win between 125 and 130 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Assembly and that he will be the next chief minister.
Talking to reporters, Mr Yeddyurappa said the JD(S) may win 24 or 25 seats and Congress not more than 70, or even less. ‘’Mr Siddaramaiah will lose both in Badami and Chamundeshwari. Why do you speak of him? Please wait till May 15th afternoon (when the results would be out),’’ he remarked.
Elections were held on Saturday only for 222 seats as polling was countermanded and postponed till May 28 in two constituencies.
The former Chief Minister dismissed both Congress and Janata Dal (S) having any chance to form the government and insisted that there will be no need for the BJP to seek support of any ‘outside support’ as he was extremely confident that BJP will gain a clear majority.
‘’I am 101 per cent sure BJP is going to form the next government on May 17. I have nothing to say if Mr Siddaramaiah is still claiming Congress will retain power. There is also no need for me to think in terms of forging an alliance with JD(S) as we are sure that BJP will gain majority. There is no need to have connection with any other political party,’’ he told reporters at his posh Dollars Colony residence here.
Even before the election dates was announced more than a month ago, Mr Yeddyurappa – as state BJP chief – had started touring the state extensively and had been repeatedly stating that BJP as working towards winning at least 150 seats in the 2018 elections. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah had exuded confidence of the party gaining a majority and forming the next government.
However, various Exit polls conducted by visual media on Saturday had predicted a fractured mandate. While some gave edge to Congress in overall tally and others gave higher numbers to the BJP, most of the Exit polls predicted a fractured mandate and JD(S) emerging as the ‘king maker’.
Mr Yeddyurappa said he had been in politics for 40 years and toured the entire state for three times before the polls. ‘’I know the pulse of the people of Karnataka. The way the BJP workers prepared the ground for the party through their sheer hard work, the stage is set for BJP to form the next government,’’ he said.
When asked about Exit polls, he refused to comment on them. However, he said : “You know what happened in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections”.
UNI
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