Bengaluru, Mar 17: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was afraid of the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as he started his campaign from Kharge's home district Kalaburagi.

He said the party is sure to win 20 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka including Kalaburagi.

"He (Modi) is afraid of the Leader of Opposition (in Rajya Sabha) Mallikarjun Kharge. Hence, he started his election campaign from there (Kalaburagi). We will win 20 seats including Kalaburagi," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Modi started his election campaign in Karnataka from Kalaburagi on Saturday. His next campaign in the state will be in Shivamogga.

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He also said the next list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections will be announced on March 20.

"There is a meeting on March 19 (about the rest of the candidates). We will announce the list on March 20," the DCM said.

He said he is convening the Taluk level nominated presidents of guarantee schemes on March 21 to assign them to work for the party.

The Congress had won only one out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 whereas the BJP secured 25 seats. An independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh too won the election with the BJP's support in 2019.

The Janata Dal (Secular) too got one seat in Hassan. Now, the regional party has forged an alliance with the BJP and become part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

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Shivamogga: A 38-year-old rowdy sheeter, Rajesh Shetty, was hacked to death in broad daylight by a group of assailants near Bomanakatte on Saturday here.

The attack occurred around 1 PM near a garage close to Marammanagudi on the old Bommanakatte main road.

Sources suggest that the murder was motivated by an old grudge. Rajesh Shetty, a rowdy sheeter listed at the Vinoba Nagar police station with seven cases against him, reportedly died on the spot due to the severity of the assault.

Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Bhooma Reddy and officers from the Vinoba Nagar police station visited the crime scene and initiated an investigation.

District Defense Officer GK Mithun Kumar informed the media that three special teams have been formed to track down the culprits. He stated, "We have obtained information about the accused, and preliminary findings indicate that the killing was driven by personal reasons."

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