Congress will win 120 seats, no Modi-Shah impact, says Siddaramaiah

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the party will come to power on its own by winning over 120 seats in the 224-member Karnataka legislative assembly and claimed the visits of Bharatiya Janata Party brass led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had no impact on the voters of the state.

The former chief minister was responding to his party surging ahead of the ruling BJP on a day when the votes polled for the May 10 elections in the state were being counted.

Siddaramaiah said the visits of Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda have had no impact on the voters of Karnataka.

"Congress party will win by getting over 120 seats, it is still the initial stage, more rounds of counting have to be completed. So Congress will come to power by getting over 120 seats on its own strength," the Leader of Opposition in the assembly told reporters.

"I had been saying let Narendra Modi or Amit Shah or J P Nadda come how many ever times they want to the state (but) that will have no impact on the voters of Karnataka because people are fed up with BJP,  their corruption, maladministration and their anti-people politics," he said.

People were also not happy with the saffron party since it did no developmental work. "People wanted change, and they have given their verdict accordingly," he said.

Siddaramaiah. a leading contender for the chief minister's post, said in Varuna he is leading with 8,000 votes after about three rounds, and will win with an even bigger margin.

He said his opponent, Minister V Somanna, will lose both in Varuna and in Chamarajanagara, the other seat from where the BJP candidate is contesting from, against Congress's Puttarangashetty.