Group within Congress conspiring to defeat Siddaramaiah: Nalin Kateel

Mangaluru: Expressing confidence that the BJP would achieve a clear majority in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections, party state president and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel on Monday said former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would be defeated in the Varuna constituency, as a group within the Congress was conspiring against its senior leader.

"A group within the Congress is conspiring to defeat Siddaramaiah from the Varuna assembly constituency," he alleged at a press conference here.

Kateel also alleged that a similar group had worked against Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge in Kalaburagi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Stating that the BJP would win the elections with a clear majority, he said the party’s expected tally would increase following the tour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

He said the BJP had started preparations for the elections some 18 months ago. The party had made its booth-level units strong quite early to face the elections and reached the people on the basis of the achievements of the government, he said.

Kateel said he had visited all 224 constituencies in the state. Even the Mysuru region, which was the stronghold of JD(S) would support the BJP this time, he claimed.

He said the party had given tickets to ordinary workers and all the communities in the coastal districts were in favour of the BJP. The party would be victorious in all the eight constituencies in Dakshina Kannada district, he said.