Modi just another leader in Kar poll; "match fixing" between

The Assembly election in Karnataka is a contest between the current Siddaramaiah government and the previous B S Yeddyurappa dispensation, and there is hardly any "Modi effect", Senior Congress leader K C Venugopal said today.

He also claimed there was a "match fixing" between the BJP, which is aspiring to form its government in the state for a second time, and the JD(S) of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

"There is not much Modi effect in Karnataka election. This is an election between Siddaramaiah government and former Yeddyurappa government," Venugopal, Congress general secretary in-charge for Karnataka, said.

In Karnataka, he said Modi was viewed as leader of just another political party.

"I don"t see any Modi wave here in Karnataka. I"m not minimizing the personality of the prime minister. Here people take him as a leader of a political party, a BJP leader," he said.

Dubbing the Karnataka polls as the "semi-final" before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the vocal Congress MP said the party was confident of breaking the jinx and retaining power in the state, something no party has been able to do since 1985.

"We will get 130 plus seats. I"m damn sure...we are working for last one year here (for achieving the goal)," Venugopal told PTI when pointed out that no party has been able to achieve the feat of retaining power in the state since 1985.

The Congress will be able to form its government despite the "match fixing" between the BJP and JD(S), he said.

Venugopal backed party president Rahul Gandhi's charge that Deve Gowda's party was a 'B team' of the BJP.

He said Deve Gowda's son and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy repeatedly visited Chamundeshwari, from were Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in the fray, only with the intention of having him defeated.

"There (Chamundeshwari) BJP has not put up a strong candidate (to help the JD(S) nominee). In Varuna (from where Siddaramaiah's son Yatindra is contesting) JD(S) has not fielded a strong candidate (to aid the BJP candidate)".

"There is clear match fixing between BJP and the JD(S)," he claimed.

When asked if the Congress will join hands with the JD(S) in the event of a fractured mandate, as being projected by various surveys, Venugopal said there was "no question" of a hung Assembly.

About protests by Congress ticket aspirants and their supporters after candidates were announced, Venugopal said the turn of events were "most peaceful" this time as compared to those witnessed after the announcement of the names of the nominees in 2008 and 2013.

Referring to similar dissidence and show of anger by supporters of BJP leaders who wanted to contest the elections, Venugopal said, "Comparatively things are perfectly okay now... because we have done a lot of home work.

"There were several aspirants...we are talking to them. The chief minister, PCC president and I myself have spoken to them and have tried to pacify them. They are all okay now."