'Congress confident of victory in Karnataka'

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the Congress Party is confident of winning and serving a second term in office in the state.

The chief minister, along with Karnataka Congress-in-charge K.C. Venugopal and others arrived here this morning to meet Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Siddaramaiah said the Congress President was happy with the progress of the party in the state, adding that all promises made by the government in 2013 have been successfully fulfilled.

"Rahul Gandhi was very happy to know that there is no anti-incumbency against our government, and all programmes that were mentioned in our manifesto have been completed. We are confident that the Congress party will win with a comfortable majority in Karnataka," he said.

Responding to his recent tussle with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over Hinduism and most-recently, the alleged killing of Hindus, Siddaramaiah claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has run out of issues to discuss, and hence are raising irrelevant ones.

"The BJP is raising irrelevant issues in Karnataka. Hindutva is the only issue they have. Yogi Adityanath and Amit Shah are also raising the same issue, and Narendra Modi may also raise the same in the future," he said.

Ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka this year, a Siddaramaiah-led Congress delegation from Karnataka met Rahul Gandhi at his residence earlier in the day.

During the meeting that lasted over three hours, Gandhi reviewed and discussed the party's strategy in the state and also the progress of the measures implemented by them.

On a related note, Karnataka will go to polls in April this year.

Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Karnataka from February 10-12 for the first leg of the election campaign. He will be addressing meetings, interacting with various groups of intellectuals, farmers, women, and students, as per Karnataka Congress Chief Dr G. Parameshwara.

--ANI