Exuding confidence that the Congress will emerge victorious on its own in the May 12 Assembly elections, veteran Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily on Monday said that the BJP came to power in 2008 in the State by accident. “Accidents are accidents and they do not happen again and again,” he said.
Addressing presspersons here, he said BJP rode to power on sympathy wave after the JD(S)-BJP coalition government fell when JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy refused to transfer the Chief Minister’s post to B.S. Yeddyurappa.
“Now, the BJP will never return to power in the State as people have a secular mindset. The BJP has no base in the entire South India,” he said.
“There are different factors that indicate Congress is poised to retain power. People are impressed with the social and economic programmes of the Siddaramaiah government. The communal and violent attitude of the BJP will work against it. In the case of JD(S), the party is under the process of disintegration and has no mass base in Karnataka. But for two or three districts, it is a non-factor. So, the 2018 election will essentially be a fight between the Congress and the BJP,” Mr. Moily said.
Manifesto
Mr. Moily, who heads the party’s Manifesto Committee, said the manifesto this time will focus on development issues, social justice and issues pertaining to Karnataka’s pride. “We will have 30 district manifestos (one for each district) and one State manifesto. It will be released shortly,” he said.
