BJP has lost face in Karnataka: Siddaramaiah

Bangalore: Taking a swipe at BJP in Karnataka for seeking votes in the name of Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said they had lost their face having been immersed in corruption during the party rule.

Siddaramaiah said the re-entry of former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and BSR Congress` B Sreeramulu into BJP will not remove their taint or help BJP. "BJP candidates are not asking vote for BJP but for Modi because they have lost their face." Speaking at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Bangalore Reporters` Guild here, he said he did not expect the people of the state to forget the `misdeeds` of the previous BJP regime which was immersed in corruption. Siddaramaiah endorsed BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi`s statement that there was no Modi wave in the country. "Initially, there was a Modi wave but it appears that at present the BJP has disowned `Modi wave` as it was reflected in Murli Manohar Joshi`s statement. Joshi is a senior leader and his words carry weight," he said. Also endorsing Joshi`s remarks on the Gujarat model of development, he said Gujarat is not the number one industrial state, instead it is Maharashtra. "Karnataka is in second place and Gujarat third," he added. There is 38 per cent poverty in Gujarat which is more compared to Karnataka and 60 per cent dropouts registered in educational institutions there, he said. "Gujarat is number one in malnutrition," he said. Joshi, who headed the BJP manifesto committee, had suggested that the Gujarat model of development touted by Modi cannot be made applicable for all states, observing he did not favour a "straitjacket" model of one particular state. On Modi`s marital status, Siddaramaiah sought an explanation from the Gujarat Chief Minister for not mentioning it in previous elections and said suppression of facts in the affidavit was an offence. "Why did he tell a lie all these years about his marital status? This act shows that RSS and BJP are good at turning lies into truth," he said. Keeping in mind the May Assembly poll results last year in which Congress won 122 seats, he said the party is expects to win at least 18 to 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state."We are leading 22 Lok Sabha constituencies as per our survey."