MTB will finish third in Hoskote, says Siddaramaiah

Hoskote's BJP candidate MTB Nagaraj was 'overconfident' and would suffer defeat in the bypolls, former chief minister Siddaramaih, said on Sunday, launching an attack on the candidate.

Hectic campaigning for bypolls in the state continued unabated in the weekend. On Sunday, Congress leader Siddaramaiah visited Hoskote for the third time, to campaign in favour of the party's candidate, Padmavathi Suresh.

Speaking during his campaign, Siddarmaiah said Nagaraj would only finish third in the race, as opposed to his claims of an easy victory in the constituency.

Hoskote is seeing a tough contest with Congress rebel MTB Nagaraj contesting as BJP candidate on one hand and BJP rebel Sharath Bachegowda contesting as an independent on the other.

Sudhakar flays Dinesh

Meanwhile, in Chikkaballapur, BJP nominee K Sudhakar, also among the disqualified MLAs, alleged that the Congress in Karnataka had seen a downfall after Dinesh Gundu Rao took charge as the KPCC President. "Congress has gone bankrupt in his leadership. If he had any conscience, he would have resigned long ago. He neither has a conscience, nor does he have any ideology," he said alleging that Rao had links with mafia and dance bars in Gandhi Nagar. Further, when Congress leaders were in trouble, he never stood by them, Sudhakar charged.

EC plaint against BSY

Intensifying the campaign of the regional party, JD(S) president H K Kumaraswamy said the party would file a complaint with the Election Commission, against Chief Minister Yediyurappa. Speaking during his campaign in KR Pet, Kumaraswamy alleged that Yediyurappa had violated the model code of conduct by making casteist remarks. "Yediyurappa has issued statements that not a single vote from the Lingayat community should go to out of BJP. This is a clear violation of the code of conduct," he said.