BJP-JDS Consensus Nominees to be Defeated in LS Polls, Says CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Referring to the recent defeat of Janata Dal Secular (JDS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consensus nominee A.P. Ranganath at the hands of Congress party in the recently held Bangalore Teachers Constituency poll, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday exuded confidence that Congress party would defeat the JDS-BJP nominees in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls and Congress would win in about 20 seats of the 28 in Karnataka.

At a public function held in Arasikere of Hassan district, Siddaramaiah said State JDS president and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, BJP leaders-Basavaraj Bommai and R. Ashoka fielded a consensus candidate in the Bangalore Teachers Constituency election but the Congress party was able to defeat the consensus candidate and Congress nominee Puttanna entered the Legislative Council for the fifth time.

Siddaramaiah also exuded confidence that the Congress party would romp home bagging 20 seats in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka out of 28. He wanted the voters to teach JDS-BJP a fitting lesson in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls and asked the gathering “Will do it?”

Regarding Hassan parliamentary seat which is a JDS bastion and a seat represented earlier by former Prime Minister and JDS supremo H.D. Devegowda, Siddaramaiah was confident that Congress nominee would be able to trounce any candidate fielded by JDS and BJP.

Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his statement on Congress party’s 5-guarantees such as free travel for women, Rs 2,000 cash benefit scheme for women among others, Siddaramaiah the 5-guarantees of the Congress party was “mocked” by Narendra Modi during his speech in Rajasthan and after the successful implementation of the 5-guarantee schemes in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emulated the same model of Karnataka and named it as “Modi’s guarantee.” “Why lie Modi?,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said Modi has stated that it would “impossible” to implement 5-guarantee and that the State would end up “bankrupt’ but the State Government has maintained balance between fund allocation for the 5-guarantees and also for development works and questioned “Can a bankrupt Government deliver the assurances it made to voters?”

In the budget, he said, a sum of Rs 52,000 crore has been allocated for the implementation of 5-guarantees for the year 2024-25.