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Home  » News » Karnataka polls: BJP to float new faces

Karnataka polls: BJP to float new faces

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
April 03, 2008 19:48 IST
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Arun Jaitley, in-charge of Assembly elections in Karnataka for the Bharatiya Janata Party, has indicated that at least 20 per cent of its MLAs in the outgoing Assembly may be changed during the next elections.

 

He said the party was confident that the party would win the elections and form the government under the leadership of B S Yeddiyurappa.

 

"We are evolving strategies to boost his image further," he said, but refused to give details.

 

The party has conducted an internal survey about the party's popularity with the people. Refusing to share the findings of the party, he admitted that the main contest would be  with the Congress and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party might play spoilsport as far as the Congress is concerned.

 

"I believe that they are going to field candidates in all 224 constituencies," he said.

 

He sought to know from the Congess why it thought that the Election Commission had acted in hurry when the president's rule comes to an end on May 28.

 

"And in case, there was a hung assembly, the President's rule can be extended by couple of days," he added.

 

He rejected any comparison between Karnataka Assembly polls and the Gujarat polls.

 

Replying to another question, Jaitley said that Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister, would be one of the campaigners for the party.

 

Jaitley will leave for Karnataka to hold another round of discussions with the state BJP unit before finalizing the first list of the candidates. The list will then be approved by the Central Election Committee before it is released in New Delhi.

 

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Onkar Singh in New Delhi