Prepare to receive the biggest election shock, Shah tells JD(S)

BJP PRESIDENT DELIVERS SHARP COMEBACK AGAINST CONGRESS PARTY FOLLOWING GAFFE

BJP president Amit Shah yesterday said he expected Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the JD(S) to get the “biggest shock of their lives” from the old Mysuru region in the May 12 Assembly polls, though his party was “a bit weak” there.

“It is said that the BJP is a bit weak here [Old Mysuru region], but after seeing the work of the party workers, I expect Siddaramaiahji and the JD(S) to get the biggest shock of their lives from this [Old] Mysuru region,” he said while addressing the party’s Nava Shakti Samavesha rally here.

Shah said his party not only wanted to replace Siddaramaiah with Yeddyurappa as the chief minister, but also wanted to bring in change to take Karnataka on the path of development for the youth, women, Dalits and adivasis.

Gaffe

Referring to his gaffe at Davangere earlier this week, Shah said though he had committed a mistake in his speech while referring to Siddaramaiah’s corruption, the people of the state would not do the same because they knew Siddaramaiah’s rule well. In a slip of tongue at a press conference at Davangere while attacking the Siddaramaiah dispensation as the “most corrupt” one, Shah had mistakenly said the Yeddyurappa government would get the number one award in corruption. He had, however, corrected himself after being prompted by BJP MP Prahlad Joshi, who sat next to him.

“Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi were very happy over my gaffe while speaking about Siddaramaiah’s corruption. I had made a mistake, but the people of Karnataka will not make it, because they have understood Siddaramaiah’s government very well,” he said.

Shah yesterday began his tour of the old Mysuru region, where the BJP had not won even a single seat in the previous election.

He is scheduled to cover Mysuru, Chamarajanagara, Mandya and Ramanagara districts during his two-day trip.

Of the 26 Assembly seats in the four districts, considered a Vokkaliga heartland, the BJP had not won even a single seat in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly polls. Moreover, the region is the home turf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who hails from Mysuru.

The contest in old Mysuru is mainly between the Congress and the Janta Dal (Secular), led by former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda.

PTI ■ Artists pose for a photo during the filming of a song for the forthcoming Karnataka Assembly elections in front of Vidhanasoudha in Bengaluru yesterday.