BJP will win minimum 15 seats in MLC polls, claims Shettar

Former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar exuded confidence that BJP would win more than 15 seats out of 25 in polls for Karnataka Legislative Council, slated to be held on December 10.

Speaking to media persons on Thursday, before the inaugural ceremony of Janaswaraj Yatra, he said, there are minimum four to five aspirants for the party's ticket. The core committee submitted the list of aspirants to the Centre. The candidates would be announced soon and he also made it clear that there is no dearth of candidates.

He said the yatra is being held with four teams across the state - one team headed by Shettar will organise conventions in Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Ramnagar, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Urban. Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Naryan, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayanswamy, Health Education Minister K Sudhakar are part of his team.

Similarly, the other team led by State BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel started the tour in Koppal and the team would cover eight districts in north Karnataka region. The teams led by former chief minister B S Yediyurappa and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa inaugurated the convention in Karwar and Shivamogga respectively on November 18. So, these four teams will cover 31 districts in Karnataka, he explained.

When questioned on why voters should support BJP in legislative council polls, he said the party gave importance to decentralisation of power. Besides, the Modi-led government is implementing the Jala Siri scheme to ensure that each rural family will get potable water in their household. The Centre and the state government released grants to provide basic facilities in rural areas, he said.

He also made it clear that the results of legislative council polls will not become a referendum on the Bommai-led government and such things can only be gauged from the results of general elections.

On the bitcoin scam, he said it came to light in 2016 when the Congress-led government was in power in Karnataka. "If Congress leaders had evidence with regard to involvement of BJP leaders and their sons in the scam, Siddaramaiah could have taken action against them then. But why didn't he do it?" he questioned and said the government is not shielding any one in the scam. The investigation is in progress.

He also taunted that Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah is targetting his own party leaders with regard to bitcoin scam.

Urban Development Minister B A Basavaraj, MP G M Siddeshwara, State BJP vice-president B Y Vijayendra, MLC K Gopalaiah, State BJP Secretaries K S Naveen, Mahesh Tenginakai, MLAs N Linganna, S V Ramachandrappa and others were present in the press conference.

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