◗ Both Siddaramaiah, BSY confident of victory

Chief minister Siddaramaiah rang his office in Bengaluru and told his staff that he would be taking a much needed 48 hours off on Sunday and Monday before official results are declared on May 15, this coming Tuesday after one of the most bruising electoral battles he had fought came to a close on Saturday evening.

“We will win 120 plus seats, no less,” he said from his home in Mysuru claiming that he would win both the seats he was contesting from, Badami as well as Chamundeswari, where he is fighting the JD( S) stalwart H. D. Deve Gowda who reportedly went on a campaign blitz on Friday night that the chief ministers advisers believe may bring his hard fought lead down from the projected 10,000 votes to a mere 5,000.

BJP insiders who conducted a survey on Thursday have told this newspaper however that there was worry in the Congress camp as not only was there an undercurrent against the CM across the state, Deve Gowda held a 6% lead over the chief minister in Chamundeswari and had also whittled down the lead held by the CMs son Yatindra in neighbouring Varuna from the CMs own record of 45,000 votes to 4,500.

However, sources close to developments in the BJP said that the BJPs chief ministerial candidate B. S. Yeddyurappa was deeply upset over the exit polls that showed a hung assembly and raised the possibility of a return to 2006 when he was part of a coalition government with the H D Kumaraswamy government. After he had once again reiterated to the media that he was going to be sworn in on May 17, he is reported to have shut himself away and refused to meet or speak to anyone until he received a call from BJP president Amit Shah who assured him that he had no cause to worry.

“BSY was told that if there was a coalition government between the BJP and the JD( S), the chief minister would be him and not H. D. Kumaraswamy,” the source said, adding “It was only after that telephone call that BSY emerged from his room.”