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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New Delhi (PTI): The maximum temperature in Delhi settled at 32.7 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 1.3 notches below the seasonal average, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 20.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 1.3 notches below the average for the season, while the relative humidity stood at 46 per cent at 5.30 pm, the IMD said.

The weather department has forecast a partly cloudy sky for Monday with the maximum and minimum temperatures expected to hover around 34 and 19 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The air quality remained 'moderate' at 4 pm, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 134, a slight drop from Saturday’s 137, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.

According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.