BJP will get 10 seats in Kerala: Nalin Kumar Kateel
Mangaluru (PTI): The BJP, which opened its account in the Kerala assembly in 2016 with one seat, will get at least 10 seats in the House this time, party's Karnataka president Nalin Kumar Kateel MP said on Tuesday.
The polling for the assembly elections in Kerala, which has 140 assembly seats, began at 7 am Tuesday.
Addressing reporters at Puttur, Kateel expressed confidence that the party will score victories in Manjeshwar and Kasaragod assembly segments.
BJP Kerala state president K Surendran is the party candidate from Manjeshwar. The BJP will also win eight other seats in other districts including its sitting seat of Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram district, he said.
Kateel, who was involved in the campaign for the polls, said the BJP has grown popular among women and youth in Kerala. People have lost faith in the CPI(M)-led LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF, he claimed.
He said the believers have turned against the LDF after its adamant stand against the age-old customs at Sabarimala Ayyappa temple. The people will also register their protest against the 'murder politics' of CPI-M, he added.
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Siddaramaiah and I have come to understanding, we will abide by it: Shivakumar
Karwar (Karnataka) (PTI): Not willing to make any direct statement on whether there will be a chief minister change in the state, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar on Friday said that he and CM Siddaramaiah have come to an agreement with the involvement of the Congress high command, and both of them will abide by it.
Stating that Siddaramaiah is CM as per the high command's decision, he clarified that he has never made any comments on the former's tenure.
Siddaramaiah, earlier in the day, had affirmed that he would remain in office for his full five-year term, expressing confidence in the Congress high command's support.
During a discussion in the Assembly on the issues pertaining to North Karnataka's development, Siddaramaiah also said he never mentioned that he was the chief minister for only two-and-a-half years.
"I had never said, he (Siddaramaiah) will not be there (as CM) for five years. I have never said that the high command is not with him. As the high command is with him, he is chief minister today," Shivakumar told reporters here.
Noting that Siddaramaiah is in the post of CM as per the decision of the party, he said, "Both of us have come to an agreement, the high command has got us to an understanding, as per that both of us have discussed and have said several times that we will abide by it and go ahead."
Shivakumar, however, chose not to answer a question, whether there will be a change in the chief minister post or not.
To a question on talks about CM change, he said, "It is you (media) who is talking about it, there is no discussion among us. We will abide by what the party says."
The Deputy CM was on a visit to various temples in the Uttara Kannada district on Friday.
To a question linking his visit to the goddess Jagadeeshwari temple in Uttara Kannada district's Ankola, to his chief ministerial ambitions, Shivakumar said, "I don't want to talk about it, it is between me and the mother goddess. It is between the devotee and the deity. What I have prayed to the goddess and what she told me is between us."
He said, five years ago he had come to the temple regarding some issue concerning his family and his wish was fulfilled. "So I'm visiting the temple as a mark of gratitude and to seek blessings for me, the state and the people who believe in me. I'm going back happily."
