Karnataka Election: Yogi Adityanath says BJP will form govt

Yogi alleges Congress misused power.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today accused the Congress of misusing its powers in Karnataka and exuded confidence that the BJP would form the government in the southern state with a clear majority.

The chief minister who reached here after receiving the first bus carrying pilgrims from Janakpur in Nepal to Ayodhya will stay at the Goraknath temple tonight.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli yesterday jointly inaugurated a direct bus service between Janakpur and Ayodhya - the two sacred cities for Hindus.

About the Karnataka Assembly elections, voting for which was held today, Adityanath said, "Congress misused its power there. Their ministers were found distributing money openly and they also used other ways to get votes."

"But the people of Karnataka are in full enthusiasm and we got their immense support. We believe that we will win in the state with a massive majority," he said.

In what is projected as a tight race, voting was held in 222 out of 224 seats in a three-cornered contest among the ruling Congress, the BJP and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's JD(S).

"Suicide by farmers is the highest in Karnataka... The benefits of government schemes were not reaching the needy. The government there was working with a feeling of political hostility... I feel they will pay for it," Adityanath said.

"I am certain that after witnessing the negative attitude of the Congress government, people there will ensure that the BJP takes over the charge of governance," he said.

On a tweet of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asking the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh to fulfil the promises made by the ruling party for Ayodhya, the chief minister said, "Whatever development work is done in Ayodhya has been done by us."

Adityanath said that due to the efforts of the prime minister, a new era of cordial relations between India and Nepal has begun.

"This was the third visit of the prime minister to Nepal... strong relations between the two countries exist from ancient times. PM Modi took this relationship a step forward and started bus service between Janakpur and Ayodhya," he said.