Price rise key to national polls schedule: Advani

Bangalore, May 3: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani has said the price rise would be the key to the scheduling of the national polls. Addressing a public meeting in Bangalore on Friday, Advani said that inflation, hovering at a three year high of over seven per cent, would be a prime factor when Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh would want his Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to face the electorate.

"There is talk in Congress circles in New Delhi that if this is the rate at which inflation is moving upwards, by the time the Lok Sabha elections come, the electorate will be very angry with the present UPA Government. Therefore, it may be wise to hold the Lok Sabha elections in October, November itself along with the other assembly elections," he said.

Speaking on the Karnataka Assembly elections, he said that these elections were important also from this angle because I know that if you give the BJP a clear majority in Karnataka, elect Yedurappa as Chief Minister with a thumping majority, they will not dare to hold Lok Sabha elections now. They will put off the Lok Sabha elections to April-May 2009.

"I am appealing to you to give stable government in Karnataka. I also want this government in New Delhi to continue for sometime," he added.

The state has been in a political wilderness since November last year when the B.S. Yeddyurappa-led coalition was ousted from the Assembly in less than a fortnight of being sworn in.

As many as 89 Assembly constituencies spread over 11 districts of Tumkur, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Ramanagar, Mandya, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysore and Chamarajnagar will go to polls in the first phase on May 10. The second phase of polling will take place on May 16, when a total of 66 Assembly constituencies in 10 districts of Raichur, Koppal, Uttara Kannada, Bellary, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Shimoga, Udupi, Chikmagalur and Dakshina Kannada will face the ballot. total of 69 Assembly constituencies in eight districts of North Karnataka, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Bidar, Gulbaga, Bijapur, Bagalakot and Belgaum will face the ballot in the third phase.

The counting of votes in all the 224 constituencies will take place on May 25.

ANI