Yediyurappa challenges CM Siddaramaiah to dissolve Assembly, hold elections now

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: BJP stalwart B S Yediyurappa on Thursday challenged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to dissolve the Karnataka Assembly and go for elections now and claimed that the saffron party will win 140 to 150 seats.

He said the people of the state have rejected the 'useless guarantees', money and muscle power of the Congress government and opted for the BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

"I challenge Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, if he has guts, then dissolve the Assembly and go for elections again. Then only you will know what your position is. If the elections are held, BJP will win 140 to 150 seats," the Lingayat strongman said during the BJP state special executive meeting organised at the Palace Grounds here.

Karnataka has 224 Assembly and 28 Lok Sabha seats. The former chief minister said in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-JD(S) alliance won 19 seats and the BJP got a majority in 142 assembly segments.

Just a year ago, the Congress had come to power by winning 134 seats, but now the ruling party has trailed in places which are represented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and several ministers, he said.

"This shows how Congress has lost its popularity in the state within a year by indulging in corruption and ignoring public interest. It has no moral right to continue in power. People overlooked the money and muscle power of the Congress and showed their confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the BJP stalwart said.

He said the state is heading for bankruptcy. "Due to the useless guarantees, Congress has increased the prices of all the commodities and laid the foundation for inflation. No development works are taking place and irrigation projects have come to a halt."

The Congress government increased petrol and diesel prices, stamp duty and power tariffs, he said. He claimed that the Congress leaders are demanding to scrap the guarantees and focus on development works.

The former chief minister alleged that the bomb blast at a café, Pakistan Zindabad slogan on the corridors of Vidhana Soudha and gang war in Udupi show that the law and order has worsened in the state.

Yediyurappa said that his party would expose all the scams during the Assembly session and will launch a fight asking the Congress to step down as "it has lost the right to remain in power".

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said the illegal transfer of Rs 89 crore in the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation in the state and the alternative site scam in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) involving the chief minister's family underline the deep-rooted corruption in the state.