Congress will win, get over 120 seats: Siddaramaiah
Mysuru, May 12: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Saturday that he was "very confident" of the ruling Congress retaining power in the southern state by winning over 120 seats.
"We are very confident of retaining power. There is no question of a hung Assembly at all," an upbeat Siddaramaiah told reporters before voting in Mysuru district, about 150 km southwest of Bengaluru.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Chief Ministerial face, B.S. Yeddyurappa, said earlier that people were with the BJP and that he will form the government by winning 145-150 seats.
"On the evening of May 15, I will go and meet the Prime Minister and invite him for the swearing-in ceremony on May 17," Yeddyurappa told the media.
Responding to Yeddyurappa, Siddaramaiah said: "Yeddyurappa is mentally disturbed. The Congress will get more than 120 seats.
"Poor people from all communities are with us and the Congress will get a clear majority. There is no doubt, no confusion on this. We will come back to power. We will get more than 120 seats."
Siddaramaiah, along with his son Yathindra, voted from the Varuna Assembly segment amid cheering outside by scores of supporters.
The Chief Minister is contesting from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru and Badami in Bagalkot district in the state's northwest region. He has fielded his son Yatindra from his hometown Varuna in Mysuru district.
Brisk polling is taking place on Saturday for 222 of the 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
