CM Siddaramaih rubbishes exit polls, says Cong will win 15-20 seats in State
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaih on Monday concurred with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's statement terming exit polls as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's media poll, as he asserted that the party will win 15-20 Lok Sabha seats out of 28 in the state.
Rahul Gandhi on Sunday dubbed the exit polls as "Modi media poll".
Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the BJP-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
They have also predicted the BJP-JD(S) alliance's sweep in Karnataka, and none of them gave the ruling Congress a double-digit figure.
"Already Rahul Gandhi has reacted to exit polls, he has called it a Narendra Modi's media survey. In Karnataka we will win more seats, we will win 15-20 seats," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
"(M) Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress President) has said that across the country INDIA bloc will win 295 seats. I support it," he added.
The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper, winning just one seat each in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. The BJP had swept the polls, winning 25 seats, and had ensured the victory of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya.
The JD(S) this time is in alliance with BJP, and has contested in three seats -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.
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PM Modi, RSS strengthening wall in path of SCs, STs, OBCs: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were strengthening the wall standing in the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, even as he acknowledged that the UPA took steps to weaken that wall but not to the extent it should have.
Addressing the 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan', Gandhi also referred to the function held on Constitution Day in Parliament and said that it is his guarantee, that "Modi has not read" the Constitution.
"If PM Modi would have read this book then what he does daily, he would not do it," Gandhi said, displaying a copy of the Constitution of India.
Gandhi said the country's whole system is pitted against Dalits, Adivasis and backward class people.
He said a wall obstructs the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs and Modi and the RSS are strengthening that wall by "adding cement to it".
"Slowly the wall (obstructing the path of SCs, STs, OBCs) is getting strengthened. Earlier, the UPA government gave MGNREGA, the land acquisition act, the right to food...those were ways to weaken that wall. Today, when I look back, I can say the UPA government did not weaken the wall to the extent it should have, it did not do it as strongly as it should have," Gandhi said.
"However, we used to make efforts to weaken that wall but they (the BJP) are strengthening that wall by adding concrete," the former Congress president said.
Gandhi said a caste survey being carried out in Telangana is a historic step and the Congress will do the same wherever it comes to power.
