Karnataka youth like Rahul Gandhi, Congress to win clear majority, says Siddaramaiah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday claimed that there would be no hung assembly in Karantaka as predicted by several pre-poll surveys and his party Congress would emerge victorious in the upcoming elections.

Siddaramaiah, in an interview to ANI, said that he was confident of winning both Badami and Chamundeshwari constituencies and rubbished the reports of him not being Congress party’s automatic choice for the state’s top job.

“There will be no hung assembly, I am very clear about it. I will 100 per cent win in both Badami and Chamundeshwari,” Siddaramaiah said and added that since the party was contesting the polls on his name, he was a natural frontrunner for the top job.

He said that the youth of Karnataka liked Rahul Gandhi and party’s victory in Karnataka will be a stepping stone for Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

During the interview, Siddaramaiah slammed BJP president Amit Shah and said that his only strategy to win elections was inciting communal clashes.

“Amit Shah is not at all a good strategist, what strategy has he got in Karnataka? Except for communal clashes nothing else,” the Karnataka CM said.

Also Read | How Siddaramaiah is turning Karnataka poll battle into regionalism vs BJP's nationalism

Terming his government’s public welfare programs a “gamechanger”, Siddaramaiah said that there were no corruption charges on him and the BJP was making wild allegations just to score political points.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi lost his image in the eye of the people after he called him 'Siddaruppaiya'.

“Corruption is an issue. Our govt has no corruption charges. For political reasons, they (BJP) are making wild allegations, especially PM Modi. He called me 'Siddaruppaiya', it's an irresponsible statement from PM. His image, in the eye of the people, is gone,” he said.

With assembly elections just 17 days ahead, both BJP and Congress were locked in an aggressive political battle in Karnataka.

Both parties were claiming that they will win the forthcoming assembly elections, scheduled to be held on May 12, but pre-poll surveys conducted by several media houses predicted a hung assembly with the Congress slightly ahead of the BJP.