Karnataka

'Neither BJP nor Congress, I will form the government’: HD Kumaraswamy tells TNM

Written by : Anna Isaac, Theja Ram

TNM caught up with JD (S) leader Kumaraswamy at Channapattana, one of the two seats that he is contesting from this election.

While many opinion surveys have predicted that Karnataka is headed for a hung assembly, Kumaraswamy denies there is any such possibility.

“According to me, there will be no hung assembly. We will get a clear majority on our own in this election. I have toured the entire state and I know people’s mood. Survey report is different. Now we cannot depend on survey report because when it came out, the Congress and BJP had not yet announced their candidates. How can they come to the conclusion that this would be a hung assembly? Only after polling day you predict such a thing,” Kumaraswamy said.

When asked if the JD(S) would ally with the Congress if Siddaramaiah was not the Chief Ministerial candidate, Kumaraswamy responded again saying that JD(S) would form a majority. "I am confident that we will form the government," he said.

When asked whether he had a secret pact with the BJP, Kumaraswamy said that the JD(S) had not formed an alliance with anyone.

"I am totally fighting both the Congress and the BJP. My first challenge is to remove BJP and Congress from Karnataka," he added.

The leader refused to comment on the issue of tainted mining baron Gail Janardhana Reddy campaigning for his friend B Sriramulu in Chitradurga. He, however, denied that he and DK Shivakumar had an understanding to defeat CP Yogeshwar, the BJP candidate.

“These reports are fabricated. Some people who know they cannot win are doing this,” Kumaraswamy said.

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