BABALESHWAR: The Congress will come to energy by itself with 130-odd seats out of 224 within the Karnataka meeting elections and the BJP’s alleged ‘Operation Kamala’ of poaching MLAs publish polls won’t achieve success this time, stated senior Congress chief and ex-minister M B Patil. Speaking to PTI, Patil, additionally the marketing campaign committee chairman, denied “internal fight” within the Congress and defended the social gathering leaders holding aspirations to turn into chief minister.
The former residence and water sources minister additionally stated he has neither been sidelined nor dropping his significance within the social gathering after Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, the tall Lingayat leaders from BJP, joined the Congress. Patil is contesting from Babaleshwar, one of many eight meeting constituencies in Vijayapura district.
“If they carry out ‘Operation Kamala’ this time, it will not be successful. The BJP and JD(S) together will not have enough numbers to form the government. Taking the support of JD(S) will not arise for Congress as it will get 130-odd seats,” he stated. BJP has come to energy in Karnataka not by majority numbers. In 2018, the BJP had projected tall Lingayat chief B S Yediyurappa as its CM candidate however the saffron social gathering at the moment couldn’t even win 115 seats and managed solely 105, he recalled. “Now minus Yediyurappa, there is no question of BJP coming to power on its own. It came to power by buying our 17 MLAs through ‘Operation Kamala. It spent Rs 100 crore on each MLA. A total of Rs 1700 crore was spent,” he alleged.Â
On being sidelined and dropping significance as Lingayat chief within the Congress after two senior BJP leaders joined the social gathering, Patil stated, “If that was the case, I would not have forced Jagadish Shettar to join the party. I am an old Congressman and I have my importance. The party knows that I was instrumental in getting Shettar to the Congress. The party has to come to power and that is the larger interest.” Former CM Jagdish Shettar belongs to the Baniga (merchants) subsect of the Lingayat Community. He and Laxman Savadi (who represents Athani in Belagavi) are two most influential Lingayat leaders from north Karnataka and can affect the voters.
“Shettar will influence 20,000 votes in Vijayapura. Whereas Savadi makes a difference in at least 10-12 constituencies as he belongs to a Lingayat sub-sect Ganiga. He is a tall leader for that sub-sect in 10-12 constituencies. Laxman Savadi will be beneficial for us,” he famous. Patil stated there isn’t a reality in hearsay that he’s being sidelined within the Congress as he’s chairman of the marketing campaign committee not like Yediyurappa regardless of being former CM and tall Lingayat being made a mere member of the marketing campaign committee. “I have not been sidelined,” he asserted.
On rising rift throughout the social gathering amid a number of contenders for chief ministership, Patil stated: “There is no such thing. Everybody will have aspirations, nothing wrong in that. Don’t BJP leaders have aspirations?” Besides Siddaramaiah, D Ok Shivakumar and M Mallikarjun Kharge, there are a lot of succesful leaders and contenders for chief ministership within the Congress however the social gathering High Command will take a ultimate name, he opined.
Asserting that he’s additionally a contender for chief ministership, Patil stated, “I am there. G Parameshwara, Krishna Byre Gowda, Ramalinga Reddy, H K Patil, R V Deshpande are also there. There are many leaders who are capable of becoming a CM. In Congress, the party legislative committee will take a call after the election results.”
Asked if Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi becoming a member of the Congress threatened his aspirations to turn into a CM, he stated: “In Lingayats, I am much more senior than Shettar and Savadi. It will take time for them to be an aspirant for CM.” “Although I am capable of becoming a CM like many others, ultimately the party will decide,” he stated, and added that besides in Punjab, nowhere has the Congress social gathering introduced its CM candidate.
Asked how the Congress plans to rearrange funds to satisfy a number of ballot guarantees made within the present election, he stated the social gathering in 2013 had made 165 ballot guarantees like Anna Bhagya, Ksheera Bhagya schemes, out of which, it fulfilled 158. “Apart from which were not announced in our manifesto, we had another 30 programmes, so we implemented a total 188 programmes, only seven were left,” he claimed. Whereas BJP in 2018 had made 600 guarantees in its election manifesto. Out of which solely 48 have been fulfilled. “We have fulfilled 120 per cent. It is not like PM Modi’s promise, we have delivered whatever promises we made,” he added.
Patil, a distinguished Lingayat chief within the state, began his political journey within the yr 1991 and efficiently contested the meeting elections from Tikota. Following this, the Congress chief contested the Lok Sabha polls from Bijapur (now renamed as Vijayapura) and have become an MP. It was then in 2008 that he once more contested the meeting polls from Babaleshwar. Since then, Patil has been representing the constituency and is making ready to win the 2023 polls.
