No Modi wave in Karnataka but one in favour of Cong govt: Siddaramaiah
Mysuru (Karnataka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said there is "no Modi wave" in Karnataka but there is one in favour of Congress government's guarantee schemes, as he claimed his party will win about 20 out of total 28 Lok Sabha polls in the state.
He was speaking to reporters after casting his vote at his native village Siddaramanahundi in this district.
Voting was underway on Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka in 14 constituencies.
"There is no Modi wave in Karnataka, the wave that is there is the 'guarantee wave'. Congress will win about 20 seats, because our guarantee schemes have reached the people and without any middlemen the money is reaching the bank accounts of the people directly every month," Siddaramaiah said.
He expressed confidence about people "blessing" the Congress party, as they did during the Assembly polls last year which saw his party scoring a thumping win.
Asked as to how many seats the Congress will win out of 14 seats in the first phase, the Chief Minister said, "It cannot be said correctly as of now, as it is a secret ballot, but we will win the majority of the seats."
Responding to a question, he said, "We will win both Mysore and Chamarajanagar seats."
Stakes are also high for Siddaramaiah, as victory in his home turf of Mysore and Chamarajanagar is seen as important, analysts say.
Poll prospects of the Congress are good in the districts that are going for polls in the second phase, Siddaramaiah said. He had campaigned during the last two days in the constituencies along with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge in Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) and Bidar. "We will win both segments," he said.
The second phase of polling in the remaining 14 seats, mostly in the northern part of the state, is on May 7.
Stating that PM Narendra Modi's recent speeches are filled with "frustration", the Chief Minister said, "The speeches he made were not as the Prime Minister of the country. They are anti-Constitution. So I feel he is frustrated, he may have a fear of losing."
Siddaramaiah also accused JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda of indulging in "opportunist politics" and took a dig at the former Prime Minister for reportedly getting emotional and shedding tears recently during campaigning.
"People know that it is artificial and not true. If people bless us we will survive in politics and if they don't we will not survive, what is there to shed tears," he said.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
