Karnataka will set agenda for 2019: Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah believes that the Assembly election in the State on May 12 is a battle between communalism and secularism, and will set the agenda for 2019.

In an interview, he said the Congress returning to power in Karnataka is imperative for the national political scene to change.

‘PM cannot sway voters’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to make a series of visits to Karnataka in the last leg of the campaign, will not be able to sway the voters, he said.

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Congress has to come back to power in Karnataka: Siddaramaiah

“You cannot wave a magic wand and change things in an election,” he said, predicting a Congress victory and ruling out the possibility of a hung Assembly.

The State Congress has “many arrows in the quiver” to counter any weapon that Mr. Modi might bring to the Karnataka battle, he said.

Accusing both Mr. Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah of making corruption allegations without substance, he said a slew of welfare programmes by his government would see his party through.

On his push for regional pride and a State flag ahead of the polls, he said: “Reorganisation of States happened on linguistic lines. So a regional language has to be given primacy in the land where it is spoken. And the State flag is an old demand. Who says that a State cannot have its own flag?”

The Chief Minister — who is expected to contest from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru district and is toying with the idea of also contesting from Badami in Bagalkot district — said the 2018 Assembly poll would be his last battle.