BS Yeddyurappa Hopes To "Gift" 22 Karnataka Seats To PM In Upcoming Polls

The BJP in Karnataka held a meeting to discuss plans for the Lok Sabha elections - in which party state president B S Yeddyurappa says he hopes the party will gift 22 out of the 28 seats to the prime minister. In 2014, the BJP won 17 of the seats, with the Congress winning nine and the Janata Dal Secular two.

"We want to win 22 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state and gift them to make Narendra Modi the country's Prime Minister again," Mr Yeddurappa said.

P Muralidhara Rao, the state in charge for the party said, "We discussed the overall situation in Karnataka and preparations for the coming elections. We also discussed the programmes and campaigns which we are going to take before the declaration of elections."

Mr Rao said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Karnataka on 10th and 19th February. On the 10th, his programme for Hubli-Dharwad is finalised.

Though PM Modi is also scheduled to visit the state again on February 19, the venue where he would address the party convention has not been finalised yet.

BJP chief Amit Shah will also be visiting the state on February 14 and 21.

The cities where Amit Shah would address the party members are yet to be decided, Mr Yeddyurappa said.