Rising India Summit: BJP Will Win K'taka, MLAs Will Choose CM, BSY is Star Campaigner, Says Amit Shah

The BJP will return to power in Karnataka with absolute majority and the elected MLAs will choose the chief minister, senior party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at the Rising India Summit on Wednesday, adding that former chief minister BS Yediyurappa will be a star campaigner.

The Election Commission announced earlier on Wednesday that Karnataka Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13, setting the stage for a key BJP versus Congress electoral fight ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha showdown.

“The BJP will definitely cross the halfway mark and form the government with absolute majority in Karnataka. We will win record mandate,” Shah said. “The BJP has never questioned the seniority of Yediyurappa. He will be the star campaigner. Elected MLAs will decide their leader,” he added.

Shah also ruled out the possibility of any electoral alliance in Karnataka.

Whirlwind visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and BJP President JP Nadda to the poll-bound state have no doubt given the party a leg-up in campaigning but it’s up against a combative Congress which has sought to make corruption a central theme of the political narrative.

The BJP state unit is banking on the party’s central leadership to shore up its prospects in the May 10 Assembly polls. The party had taken out ‘Jana Sankalpa Yatre’ covering almost all the constituencies in recent weeks as part of preparations for the polls.

The BJP emerged as the largest party in the 2018 Karnataka elections but was short of majority, following which the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress joined hands to form the government with JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy becoming CM.

But it formed the government in July 2019 with the help of 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs who resigned and joined forces with the BJP.

Read all the Latest India News here