At 75, BS Yeddyurappa, looks younger than his years, and is visibly more active. With Assembly elections imminent, the BJP’s Karnataka unit president and the State’s former chief minister recently concluded a 75-day State tour. Yeddyurappa spoke to BusinessLine about his party’s prospects and why he thinks the Congress is on a weak wicket. Excerpts:

How do you evaluate your Parivarthana Yatra?

We covered about 11,000 km and all 224 constituencies. I interacted with over 1 crore people. They are very upset with the ruling party. There is a certain anti-incumbency. Several projects have been announced but few have been completed. The Chief Minister said ₹10,000 crore had been spent on drinking water and irrigation projects but it remains a claim. I have assured them that if we come to power, we will spend ₹1-lakh crore in north Karnataka alone for all these projects and see to it that they are implemented.

If elections are held today, how many seats do you expect to win?

About 125, definitely. We have set a target of winning 150 seats.

...and it will happen without any seat adjustments with say, the JD(S)?

We will win all (seats) on our own. We will surely not have any seat-sharing with the JD(S). We have learnt our lessons from what happened before and will be careful now.

Why do you think the voters are against the current government?

There are several reasons. The law and order situation is getting worse. The CM is a very arrogant man. He doesn’t care for his people. There are several corruption cases against him.

Can you specify these ‘corruption cases’?

There are about 65 cases against him. His son owns a pathology lab worth ₹200 crore or more, and all norms were flouted in its setting up. When we protested, the partnership was changed, but he continues to lead the lab. Then there are several murder cases, which remain unsolved. Let me tell you, there is not a single government office where there is no corruption. The CM recently transferred several deputy commissioners which was stayed by the court, which said he cannot do so when elections are imminent. Isn’t it a slap on his face? A few top police officials have been killed during his tenure and no one has been punished.

So, will you bring out a white paper on the State’s finances, and institute a probe if there have been irregularities?

Yes, of course. We are going to reopen cases and investigate them. Can you believe that not even 55 per cent of the total budgetary allocation for the year has been spent so far? There are just a few more months and once the elections are announced, how will the government spend money? That is the extent of mismanagement in the State. The Prime Minister asked the CM to accompany him for a foreign trip to attract investments into India, but he refused. So, who lost out in the end? The debt, which is worth about ₹2.5 crore, is unprecedented in the State’s history. There is lot of corruption in food procurement for Indira Canteens as well.

Do you intend to persist with the ‘Indira Canteen’ if your party comes to power?

Yes, but we will stop corruption there.

The government gets nearly 70 per cent of its revenues from Bengaluru, but the city remains neglected in terms of infrastructure.

Most of the development that has happened in the city is because of our party. The NDA government at the Centre has announced ₹17,000 crore for suburban rail in the city. We want to construct pucca buildings wherever there are slums. I also plan to stay in the slums for a few days to understand their problems and will implement various welfare measures for them.

What about the issues concerning sharing of Cauvery waters, and those of the Mahadayi?

See, if there is water, we will certainly share with Tamil Nadu. If there is no water, we will tell them we can’t share. Regarding the Mahadayi, the current CM is trying to make political capital out of it.

You were not present during the funeral of Gowri Lankesh. The Kalburgi murder case is yet to be solved...

We want the culprits to be caught. But this man (CM) has failed to do anything. The family itself does not want a CBI probe into Lankesh murder.

This election is seen as more of a fight between Modi and Siddaramaiah than between Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Some BJP MPs (Anant Kumar Hedge and Pratap Simha) have been making statements which you might find it difficult to defend...

Tell me, which election has Rahul Gandhi been able to win? The more he tours our [BJP-ruled] States, the better it is for us. We will have a better chance of winning more seats. So far as Siddaramaiah is concerned, he is too small a person to be compared with Modiji, who is the tallest leader of our times.