After exit polls, anti-BJP front to meet in New Delhi

HASSAN: With exit polls projecting a setback for the BJP in assembly elections in five states, the opposition is making its move.


On Sunday, leaders of regional and national parties opposed to BJP will meet in New Delhi under the leadership of Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, said former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda here on Saturday.

He said the results of these polls will have a major bearing on Lok Sabha polls if the Congress is favoured by people in all five states that went to the polls. Exit polls from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram indicated that Congress would make a comeback.

Gowda was sharply critical of national parties. He said if the BJP-led NDA government were to focus on development as promised, they would not have to look at Ram Mandir issue now. “Its gameplan is old. During the general elections, they rake up the Ram Mandir issue. It’s no different this time as they have failed to walk the talk,” he said.

He said PM Narendra Modi has taken control of the CBI and RBI, affecting their autonomy. It indicates that BJP has sensed the people’s mood that they are not with the saffron party anymore, he said. He called the BJP agitation at Sabarimala as a ploy to make it the Ayodhya of the South.

The JD(S) supremo defended senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who is facing charges of financial mismanagement when he was CM. “He ruled the state efficiently. I believe he wouldn’t have mismanaged the situation,” he said when asked about BJP leaders’ charge citing the CAG report.