The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party will launch a State-wide mass contact programme next month to gear up for the next Assembly elections.
“We will contest from 220 constituencies with a target of winning at least 120 seats in the next Assembly elections in the State,” B.S. Yeddyurappa, State unit president of the BJP, said at a press conference here on Monday. Mr. Yeddyurappa said he would tour the 28 Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru from June 11.
He said that the BJP was poised to win all the Legislative Council seats to which elections were scheduled on June 9. Mr. Yeddyurappa claimed that the achievements of the previous BJP government, which included bringing schools, polytechnics and B.Ed. colleges under the grant-in-aid system; implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations; and the steps taken for the welfare of teachers and graduates, had put the party candidates in good stead.
The former Chief Minister lost his temper for a while when a journalist asked if his jail sentence had eroded his popularity. Mr. Yeddyurappa alleged that his arrest was the result of a political conspiracy as the Supreme Court had granted him relief.
He claimed that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was upset with his appointment as the BJP’s State unit president and was fast losing his popularity in his home district of Mysuru.
To a question on the delay in the proposed out-of-court settlement for the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project between Karnataka and Goa, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that the project was halted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to please the Goa unit of the party, while the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the initiative to set up the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he was willing to intervene in the issue if the Congress tries to evolve a consensus between Goa and Karnataka, and Maharashtra and the Centre. But, instead of taking steps to evolve a consensus, the Chief Minister was pointing fingers at the Prime Minister to hide his negligence,” Mr.Yeddyurappa said.
He said that a decision on the candidate for the election to the Legislative Council from the Legislative Assembly constituency was yet to be taken. Those in the list included V. Somanna and the former Belagavi Zilla Panchayat president Eranna Kadadi.
