Bengaluru: Welcoming the Election Commission announcement to hold elections to the Assembly in a single phase, JD(S) president H.D. Kumaraswamy said his party would upset the calculations of poll pundits and win 120-135 seats. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kumaraswamy said his party had launched election preparations a year ago and during the next 40 days, would work to convert this strenous effort into a victory. The former CM said he would be concentrating on 95 constituencies in North Karnataka — in the Mumbai Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka regions, while party national president H.D. Deve Gowda will be concentrating on the Old-Mysore region including Chamarajnagar. Kumaraswamy admitted that there were ‘minor problems' in the selection of candidates in some constituencies, which would be sorted out in 48 hours. He said his party would come out with a list of 224 candidates by the end of this week, when the party manifesto will be released. “We have specific programmes for urban areas and separate manifesto for rural areas. We have drafted an action plan for Bengaluru too. We will not make promises and later forget them. The manifesto will also include the plans for resource generation and how the party will spend resources, if voted for power,'' Kumaraswamy said. Admitting that river water disputes would be a prime issue during the election, Kumaraswamy said that the steps taken by both the National parties — Congress and BJP— had jeopardised the state's interest. “On the Cauvery issue, Congress betrayed the state and pushed us into a situation, where we have to struggle for drinking water. Congress leaders, who are dreaming of coming to power have not clarified their stand on the issue. All that the Congress did was to appease the DMK to continue in power at the Centre. The situation is no better in the Krishna basin. Even the BJP is not brave enough to come to the state’s defence as it is looking to AIADMK for support,'' he charged. Taking a dig at Opposition leader Siddaramaiah who had questioned Deve Gowda's contribution on the Cauvery issue, Kumaraswamy said Siddaramaiah was Deputy CM for seven years and never uttered a word on Cauvery.
