Debate only on margin, BJP will win all 15 seats, Karna CM on

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said the party would win all the 15 seats and victory margin of BJP candidates would be the matter of debate in the December 5 Assembly bypolls in the state.

"With a deep sense of responsibility, I am saying that we will win all the 15 seats. The matter of debate, however, is the difference of votes with which the BJP candidates will win the by-elections," he said at an election rally at Banavasi in Uttara Kannada district.

Yediyurappa was in Banavasi to campaign for BJP candidate Shivaram Hebbar who was previously elected from the Congress but resigned from the assembly and was subsequently disqualified by the then speaker K R Ramesh Kumar.

After the Supreme Court allowed the disqualified MLAs to contest the bypolls, Hebbar joined the BJP and is contesting from there.

Addressing the gathering, Yediyurappa acknowledged the 'sacrifice' of the 17 MLAs whose resignation led to the fall of Congress-JD(S) coalition government in July this year and paved the way for BJP to come to power in the state.

"If these 17 people had not resigned from the assembly neither I would have had the opportunity to speak to you as the Chief Minister of the State, nor Kota Srinivasa Poojary or Govind Karjol could have become ministers," the Chief Minister pointed out.

"It was a sort of sacrifice. Dejected with the lack of development in their government, they came out (of their parties). As a result, the BJP is running the government in Karnataka," Yediyurappa said.