Cong will win up to 20 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, says CM Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the response from voters towards Congress is "very good" and the party would win up to 20 seats in the state in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The guarantee schemes launched by his government will not be stopped for any reason, Siddaramaiah asserted as he claimed that the Congress will return to power after completing the current term, and they would continue.

"The response is very good from the voters in Karnataka, but I do not know about the other parts of the country. As far as Karnataka is concerned, we will win up to 20 seats this time," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha constituencies.

In the 2019 parliamentary elections, the Congress and its then alliance partner JD(S), which were running a coalition government at the time, had won just one seat each, while the BJP secured 25, and had also ensured the victory of an independent supported by it.

This time, the JD(S) is in an alliance with the BJP, and is contesting in three seats, and the saffron party in the remaining. Congress is contesting in all 28 seats.

Responding to a question about BJP state president B Y Vijayendra's comments that the guarantee schemes are "temporary", the chief minister said, "Vijayendra doesn't know things, what does he mean by temporary? Is he a fortune teller? In Karnataka we will be (in power) this term and the next term too, and will not stop guarantee schemes for any reason."

"Guarantee schemes will be continued and for this we have set aside Rs 52,000 crore in the budget," he added.

Karnataka is going to the polls in two phases. While polling for 14 Lok Sabha segments in the southern part of the state will be held on April 26, the second phase of voting in northern districts will be held on May 7.