Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is in charge of the BJP’s election effort in poll-bound Karnataka, expressed confidence on Thursday that the party would win 150 seats on the basis of “good work” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Pradhan leads a three-member team that is supervising BJP's electioneering in Karnataka. Pradhan arrived in the city along with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai.
"Karnataka is a stronghold of BJP for decades. We've fought so many elections in the state. I'm confident that people of the state are with PM Modi...the good governance of Modi's model and the local government is given by our tallest leader BS Yediyurappa and present CM Basavaraj Bommai," Pradhan said, adding that the BJP's organisation is "very deep-rooted" in the state.
Pradhan said the BJP government had delivered "a lot of" welfare schemes for farmers, women, SC, ST, OBC and in the coastal belt. "On this good work and leadership of PM Modi, we will cross 150 (number of seats) in the next Assembly election," he said.
The party's poll tours or yatras will start in the first week of March. Senior leaders would visit different parts of the state for campaigning, Pradhan said. "PM Modi himself will come. He has already started his campaign. He will again come to seek the blessings of the people," he said, adding that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda are visiting Karnataka frequently.