Sharad Pawar predicts clear win for Congress in Karnataka elections

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar on Friday predicted a clear win for the Congress party, in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, scheduled to be held on May 10.

In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Pawar said the Karnataka assembly election will be different from national, although the BJP tends to connect national with state issues in its campaigns.

"Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh aren't BJP governments. There is an election in Karnataka and my assessment is the Congress will win," Pawar told NDTV, whose NCP is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.

For the BJP the elections are much more prestigious as it holds power only in one South Indian state-Karnataka. The push for Karnataka also comes in the wake of the party aspiring for power in the other southern states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

This time around the BJP has decided not to target just the Lingayats. There is a massive push to bag in the votes of the Vokkaligas, Dalits and tribals. The recent decision to realign the reservation for both the Vokkaligas and Lingayats is proof of the same. The four per cent reservation for Muslims was taken away and equally divided between the Vokaligas and Lingayats.

For the Congress winning Karnataka would be a big deal. By ensuring a win in Karnataka, the party also wants to bounce back after the recent losses in the northeastern states, and give it a momentum of sorts to take on the battle-ready election machinery of the BJP, later this year in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

The Congress seems to be heading for the Karnataka polls so far on the strength of its local leadership and focusing on issues concerning the State, making corruption a central theme of its campaigning. This polls is also a prestige battle for the grand old party with a Kannadiga M Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Kalaburagi district, at its helm, as the national President.

Polls in Karnataka will be held on May 10, while counting will take place on May 13.