ATHANI (BELAGAVI DIST): Campaign ended for the Maharashtra assembly elections on Saturday. That the BJP is upbeat is evident from Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi remark that the party will win comfortably. Savadi, who spearheaded the party’s long-drawn election campaign in west-Maharashtra, predominantly occupied by Kannadigas, is confident that a major chunk of them will vote for BJP.
BJP is contesting 164 seats in the 288-seat Assembly. Savadi claimed that the outstanding performance of
PM Narendra Modi and the corruption-free governance of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis will lead BJP-Shiv Sena alliance to a comprehensive win.
Savadi spoke to TNIE at the end of the campaign on Saturday. Asked why his party was so dependent on him for Maharashtra elections, Savadi said, “I was in charge of the campaign in five districts of west-Maharashtra and several areas of Pune and Mumbai where the population of Kannadigas is in large numbers. Despite migrating to Maharashtra several generations ago, Kannadigas in these areas uphold their culture and speak in Kannada even today. What I found during my campaign here is that they are strongly in support of BJP.”
The BJP received flak for promising Karnataka water to Maharashtra in its bid to woo the voters there. Asked why the party politicised the issue, Savadi said Chief Minister Yediyurappa did not promise the release of water to Maharashtra during his campaign recently. He only said he will take a final call on the issue after holding talks with his officials and leaders.
Pointing a finger at the Congress and defending Fadnavis, he said the water issue could have been amicably resolved but when Siddaramaiah was CM, he asserted that not even a drop of water will be given to Maharashtra from Karnataka.
Savadi said his government was committed to implementing the Mahadayi project to divert water from Mahadayi river and said, the project was getting delayed due to various reasons. Savadi appealed to the farmers who are staging protests demanding the project’s implementation to withdraw their agitation.