Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed confidence in the Congress party's victory, foreseeing that they would win at least 20 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state. He made these remarks ahead of the second phase of polling.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala in Belagavi, Siddaramaiah asserted that the Congress government had fulfilled all the five promises made during their campaign, which secured their victory in the state. Karnataka is conducting elections for its 28 Lok Sabha seats in two phases. Polling for 14 seats was held on April 26, and the remaining seats will go to polls on May 7, during the third phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.

"As the campaigning ends today evening, voting will take place on May 7th. In the last phase of the election held on April 26th, according to our information, we will win 8-9 seats. In this second phase, our party workers have assured us that we will win more than 10 seats. We are confident of winning at least 20 seats because we have fulfilled all five promises that we announced. Without any intermediaries, guaranteed checks will reach every individual through me and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar," Siddaramaiah stated.

Highlighting the achievements of the Congress government in the past eight months, Siddaramaiah said, "In the last eight months, we have implemented all our promises. We assumed power on May 20. Many requests were made to us during the assembly poll campaign to increase the quantity of rice given, which the government under Yediyurappa had reduced from 7 kg to 5 kg. As promised, we increased it."

"We continue to uphold our Congress guarantees. BJP leaders are making a fuss, demanding that the Congress guarantees should be stopped," he added.

Siddaramaiah also criticized the BJP for allegedly claiming they would "change" the Constitution if voted back to power in the Centre.

"BJP leaders are saying that if they (BJP) come to power, they will change the Constitution. They will change the Constitution if the BJP gets 400 seats in this Lok Sabha election. Mohan Bhagwat also asked to be patient, saying they will change the Constitution. The BJP party has no respect for the Constitution. We can call this Lok Sabha election the second independence," he said.

Siddaramaiah further criticized Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the GST compensation issue with the state.

"Nirmala Sitharaman made false statements, claiming that we desperately went to the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court criticized them, they announced a compensation of over 3600 crores. I request the voters of Karnataka to take this opportunity to show them their way. Nirmala Sitharaman hasn't given anything to Karnataka in the last 10 years and is trying to divide society based on caste and religion. Vote for change and ensure that the people of Karnataka vote for us," he said.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP almost swept the state, winning 25 out of 28 seats, while Congress and JD(S) could only win one seat each.

This time, BJP and JD-S are in coalition, with the former contesting on 25 seats and the latter on three seats.

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