Davangere (Karnataka), March 23 Veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa said on Monday that the people of Karnataka are unhappy with the functioning of the Siddaramaiah-led government and are eager to bring about a change by defeating the ruling Congress in the bypolls to two Assembly seats.
The former chief minister also accused the Congress of betraying Muslims after initially assuring the community of the Davangere South ticket. He claimed that this would help the BJP.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on April 9.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
"The atmosphere is favourable beyond our (BJP) expectations. Our candidates have filed their nominations. I'm confident that our candidates will win by a huge margin both here (in Davangere South) and in Bagalkot," Yediyurappa said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said people of the state are unhappy with the functioning of this government and are eager to bring about a change.
"I request the people of both the constituencies to teach a lesson to the ruling Congress by ensuring BJP's win," he added.
The BJP has fielded Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot and Srinivas T Dasakariyappa from Davangere South as candidates.
Yediyurappa claimed that people of the Muslim community realised the Congress is betraying them, stating that after assuring the community a ticket, the party denied them one.
"This will help in BJP's win. I request the Muslim community to cooperate in the BJP's winning strategy of how Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking everyone in the country together," he said.
There was a strong demand from Muslims for the Davangere South Congress ticket, as the community has a significant presence in the constituency.
Congress ticket aspirant Sadiq Pailwan has announced he will contest as an independent candidate in the constituency.
Reacting to Siddaramaiah predicting BJP's defeat in the bypolls, Yediyurappa said, "Since the Congress' defeat in these polls is certain, the CM is speaking whatever he wants, but it doesn't have any value."
In the 2023 Assembly polls, Meti defeated BJP's Charantimath by a margin of 5,878 votes in Bagalkot, and Shivashankarappa defeated BJP's B G Ajay Kumar by a margin of 27,888 votes in Davangere South.
