Research agency Cfore’s prediction of a Congress victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls is both an affirmation of the Siddaramaiah goverment’s good governance and a reflection of the BJP’s failure at the Centre and in the State, says Dinesh Gundu Rao, the Congress’ Working President in Karnataka. Excerpts from an interview:

The survey says you will win more seats than the previous elections. How do you think you will be able to manage that?

There are several reasons. There is no anti-incumbency in Karnataka today. We have given the people a stable government. There is a lot of team-work involved here. We have addressed the key issues and solved them. But the BJP has stuck to the same old faces, the same old leadership and the same tainted leaders. They keep coming up with breaking news but they have not been able to bring out even a single issue against us.

But the BJP’s central leadership, including Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, have been touring the State. It is something which has never happened before…

The leadership has not involved the local State leaders. Wherever Modi and Shah have held rallies, the responses have been very poor, while Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s tour has been much more vibrant.

There is some criticism against Siddaramaiah — that he is taking on Modi and Shah whereas he should focus more on State issues.

Modi has failed as Prime Minister. Whenever he comes here, he attacks the Chief Minister claiming all kinds of things. It is pretty obvious that we will hit back at him. Our CM does not hold his punches. The BJP knows that Yeddyurappa is on a weak wicket and hence have been involving Modi and Shah more. They in turn have been using central agenices to threaten our leaders with raids etc. Modi has not turned up in Karnataka for more than a month now. His visit to Raichur keeps getting postponed.

The survey also says the BJP will, in fact, win 30 more seats than the last time…

Last time, the party had been split but this time they have regrouped themselves. I expect people in the coastal belt to vote for us They are tired of this Hindutva campaign. However, we need to be careful in selecting candidates. Sometimes, not selecting the right candidates can derail even the best campaigns.

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