KEY STORY
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BENGALURU: Amid the on-and-off buzz of change in leadership, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said that as long as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah have confidence in him, along with the blessings of people of Karnataka, he will continue to remain as Chief Minister of Karnataka.
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“Opposition leaders are dreaming of me resigning from the post. I am putting all speculation to rest,” he said.
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He was responding to demands by Congress leaders that he should resign after his name came up in a land denotification case. “These days, anyone can apply for an RTI and make allegations against public representatives.
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Let hundred such cases come up against me, I will face them and win,’’ a combative Yediyurappa said.Hitting out at Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, he said that several national-level Congress leaders are facing charges and have come out on bail. “Even during your government, ministers faced charges of corruption.
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You were smart enough to create a separate Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and hand over all corruption cases to them. You also changed the word ‘denotification’ to ‘redo’. But I am not as smart as you are,” the 78-year-old leader said.
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Replying to the House, Yediyurappa said that he gets ever more motivated when he comes across challenges. “In the last five decades of my political career, it is such challenges that have made me strong. I have faced hundreds of challenges and won. Power is a tool to help people and no one should practice politics of hatred,” he said.
Will win all four seats, says BSY
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Challenging Siddaramiah to win the upcoming by-elections in the state, the CM said that the BJP will not only win the four polls but also crush its rivals with a thumping majority. “In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 25 seats out of 27 in Karnataka.
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The same year, of the 15 Assembly seats that went to bypolls, we won 12. The party also came out victorious in the Sira Assembly seat last year which had never been won by us,” he added.
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This year, the bypolls will be held to Maski, Basavakalyana and Sindagi Assembly seats and the Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency. “We are going to win all the four.
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Under your (Siddaramaiah) leadership, the Congress has fared badly in polls as people have lost faith in your party,” he said.
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The BJP is also confident of winning 150 seats the next Assembly election, while the Congress will continue to sit in the opposition, he added.