Alleging the pre-poll survey a farce, JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy said the opinion polls can be manufactured by paying them money and urged people not to believe them.
We can get a survey loaded in favour of the JD(S) within 24 hours if I pay them Rs 150 crore. Don't trust them. One survey claims the JD(S) would get 23 to 28 seats while a national party 116 seats, Kumaraswamy said adding the JD(S) will win 30 to 35 seats in north Karnataka alone.
The party will clinch 123 seats and all 11 seats in Tumakuru district, he reiterated.
When there was no separate reservation for Muslims in the entire country, it was then chief minister H D Deve Gowda who gave 4% reservation to Muslims, Kumaraswamy said. He added that the Muslim quota will be restored if the JD(S) is voted to power.
Former Congress MLA Shafi Ahmed, who was denied a ticket from Tumkur City to contest the May 10 elections, joined the JD(S) in the presence of JDSLP leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and party president C M Ibrahim.
Interestingly, Shafi Ahmed's son-in-law Rafique Ahmed, also a former MLA and ticket aspirant, remained in Congress despite expressing his ire against the party leadership in open. The Congress has fielded Iqbal Ahmed against the sitting MLA and BJP candidate G B Jyoti Ganesh, son of MP G S Basavaraju.
Published 27 April 2023, 16:53 IST