Despite the exit polls giving the Congress a slight advantage over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently held Karnataka Assembly elections, State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai remains optimistic about his party’s prospects. Bommai expressed confidence in the BJP’s ground reports and believes that the party will emerge victorious with a “comfortable majority.” His statements reflect the BJP’s unwavering determination to retain power in Karnataka, despite the strong competition from the Congress.
“All the exit polls predicted that Yogi Adityanath would not come back, but he came back in Uttar Pradesh. Last time, they (exit polls) predicted only 80 seats for the BJP and 107 for the Congress, but it came back… We are confident with our ground reports, and we will come with a comfortable majority,” Bommai told the media persons on Thursday. According to most exit poll projections, the Congress will finish ahead of the BJP, but the chances of a hung Assembly are high.
The pollsters also tipped HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal-Secular to play kingmaker.
The party needs to win 113 seats to reach the majority mark in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly.
On Wednesday too, in an exclusive conversation with the media persons, Bommai pinned hope on the fact that the exit polls got it all wrong.
“Exit polls are, after all, exit polls, and even most projections are predicting a close finish. However, from what I have been able to pick up from our ground sources, it is 100 percent clear that we are going to return with an absolute majority.