Exclusive interview with BJP's B S Yeddyurappa

Already in

election mode in Karnataka

, BJP will kick off a 75-day Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivartana Yatra on November 2. The party's national president, Amit Shah, will flag off the event in Bengaluru in which around three lakh bike riders will criss-cross the state with BJP's campaign message. B S Yeddyurappa, the party's declared CM candidate, spoke exclusively to TOI ahead of the yatra he will be leading.

What is the main objective of the rally?
I will cover three assembly constituencies per day where the failures of the Siddaramaiah government and the achievements of the Modi government and of the BJP regime from 2008 to 2013 will be highlighted. The Anna Bhagya Yojana, which Siddaramaiah is harping about, is in fact the Centre's scheme where rice is given at subsidised rates. Siddaramaiah had taken an oath on the banks of river Krishna that he will spend Rs 10,000 crore per year on the project. But only Rs 13,000 crore has been spent in the past four-and-a-half years.

The rally will also cover north Karnataka districts where people are upset with BJP for failing to resolve the Mahadayi river dispute...

BJP will resolve the Mahadayi issue at the earliest. It's a matter of 10 to 15 days and (Amit) Shah is expected to make an announcement on this on November 2. There is going to be an out-of-tribunal settlement between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. We are going to convince Goa CM Manohar Parrikar on this.

There is a perception in political circles that BJP has announced you as a CM candidate to garner Lingayat votes but if the party wins, you may have to make way for a new and young face.

Let me make it clear that Karnataka is the only state where the BJP leadership announced a CM candidate a year ahead of polls. They didn't do it in UP, Gujarat or Himachal Pradesh (BJP announced Prem Kumar Dhumal as CM candidate in Himachal on Tuesday).

Then why are you diffident about contesting from north Karnataka?

Why should I give up Shikaripura which has stood by me all these years? This constituency has given me everything in politics... I will convince the BJP leadership to field me from Shikaripura though I am confident of winning from any constituency in the state.

But your son B Y Raghavendra is representing the constituency now?
He will not contest this time.

Can all 47 BJP MLAs expect to be given tickets again?

I can say 95% of the sitting MLAs will be re-nominated. Before issuing tickets, two to three surveys will be done and one such round is over now. Tickets will be given only to hose whom the local people want. The candidates whom he constituents prefer can also be from Congress and JD(S) as there is going to be an influx from these parties December onwards. Under the 150-seat mission, candidates for 125 seats have been identified already. To begin with, independent MLAs C P Yogeshwara, who resigned as associate Congress member, and P Rajeev will be joining the party on November 2.

Are you confident of winning 150 seats?
I am 100% confident and our main target will be CM Siddaramaiah's constituency. We want to defeat him just as he ensured the defeat of KPCC president G Parameshwara...He cheated his own party president.

BJP has been wavering in its stance on the issue of a separate religious identity for Lingayats.

BJP will abide by whatever stand Veerashaiva Sangha's national president Shamnur Shivashankarappa takes. His stand is that Lingayat and Veerashaiva are one and the same. Congress tried to create confusion by dragging the

Tumakuru Siddaganga Mutt's Swamiji

into the issue, but he clarified that both are one. Siddaramaiah will not get support on the Lingayat issue as he thought he would.

BJP is wooing Dalits but what about the minorities? Karnataka BJP did not give a single ticket to a Muslim in the 2013 polls or in UP.

BJP's Ahinda agenda

is inclusive of minorities. But winnability will be the criteria for giving tickets. In my tenure as CM, I searched for a Muslim to give an MLC seat. If Muslims were not in our favour, my party would not have won in UP. Under the

Bhagyalakshmi scheme

I started for the welfare of the girl child, 50% of the beneficiaries are Muslims.