Congress to go it alone in Karnataka

New Delhi, Mar 10 (IANS): The Congress will fight the forthcoming assembly polls in Karnataka on its own, a senior party leader said Sunday.

Party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, who is incharge of Karnataka, told IANS over phone that the party was in the process of finalizing its candidates for the assembly polls expected to take place in May.

Asked if the Congress will have any alliance for the assembly polls, he answered in the negative.

Mistry said the party's preparations were proceeding well and expressed confidence of coming to power in the southern state where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power since 2008.

"We will win the polls... Hundred percent," he said.

He said the party will raise local issues during the elections and "expose the misgovernance" of the BJP government.

To a question about projecting a chief ministerial candidate in Karnataka, Mistry said that it was not the practice in Congress.

Party sources said several Congress leaders from the state were desirous of becoming the next chief minister amid speculation that party's fortunes had brightened following troubles faced by the BJP following rebellion of former chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa.

The term of the Karnataka assembly will come to an end June 3 this year.

Parties will know the urban mind Monday

Ahead of the Karnataka assembly polls in May, political parties, particularly the ruling BJP and main challenger Congress, will know on Monday their hold on the state's urban voters as results of the urban local bodies poll will be out.

Around 70 percent of 8.5 millon voters out of total electorate of more than 40 million had voted Thursday to elect 207 urban local bodies. Though voting was scheduled for 208 local bodies, polling did not take place in one because of boycott by the people demanding various facilities for the area, according to the state election commission.

A good showing in the poll is of particular importance to the Bharatiya Janata Party to boost its morale to face the assembly elections as the party's image stands battered by corruption scandals and dissidence.

While no scandal has broken out after Jagadish Shettar became the BJP's third chief minister in over four years last July, there is no end to disunity in the state unit.

This is the first major election the party faced after coming to power in the state for the first time in May 2008.

In the last urban local bodies poll held in 2007, the Congress was the biggest winner followed by the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) with the BJP taking the third spot.

Shettar, who has been declared by the BJP as its chief ministerial candidate for the assembly polls, is confident of his party winning a majority of the over 4,800 seats for which balloting took place Thursday.

The Congress claims it will win around 60 percent of the seats while the JD-S says it will take the first place.

The Congress has fielded the highest number of candidates - 4,492, followed by the BJP (3,954) and JD-S (3,651).

Two new outfits - the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and BSR (Badavara Shramikara Mattu Raithara or poor, workers and farmers) Congress - both floated by former BJP men, are also in the fray.

The KJP, headed by former BJP chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, has fielded 1,966 candidates and the BSR Congress, floated by former BJP minister B. Sriramulu 1,496.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist is contesting 133 seats.

The rest are independents.