JD(S) state President H D Kumaraswamy today said he would not be a "kingmaker" and instead people of the state would bless him as "king" in the May 12 Karnataka Assembly polls, which he conceded was a "battle for survival" for his party.
Expressing confidence about the JD(S) coming to power on its own, the former chief minister said, he is asking people to give the party a "chance", having seen the performance of both the BJP and the Congress.
"I'm completely confident about bringing in a government with majority, I don't have an iota of doubt," Kumaraswamy told PTI.
Pre-poll surveys on the elections to the 225-member Karnataka House, that includes one nominated member, have projected a hung assembly with the JD(S) emerging as kingmaker.
Kumaraswamy said his target was 113 seats.
"I'm targeting 113, I have made preparations strategically, required to reach 113. So in my opinion ultimately I will succeed in reaching my goal. People will make me succeed, I have this confidence," he said.
To a query, Kumaraswamy said, as per his current calculations, the JD(S) would comfortably reach the 97-105 mark and it is now working towards making up the remaining seats.
"I'm confident that we will not fall short... according to my calculation 97-105 comfortably I'm going to reach this time, another 7-8 seats I may fall short. For that I'm working out and I'm sure we will make it up," he said.
Asked if he would not need support of other parties to make up for the numbers, he replied in the negative.
Ruling out any prospect of a hung assembly, he said, "It (situation) is not going to arise, I'm confident."
Dismissing pre-poll surveys which predicted a hung assembly and projected the JD(S) as "kingmaker", he said only after polls can such surveys have some clarity and "not at this stage."
Conceding that the coming assembly elections were a "battle for survival" for the JD(S), Kumaraswamy said, it is because for the last 10 years "we have been out of power."
He said, "all our workers are working very hard even without power. This time they want us to somehow reach the goal, for that they are sincerely working. Even I'm also working very hard to come back to power."
He said, "Congress is saying we are the 'B' team of BJP, as they don't have anything to point fingers at me, they don't have issues to comment against my party."
He said, "Earlier in 2013 in Varuna constituency, the BJP candidate absconded for five days ahead of the election, people say Siddaramaiah had booked him and reached an understanding with the BJP. This time before the filing of nominations, BJP changed its candidate."
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