Kalaburagi, 20 Mar 

Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra on Friday said that "power tussle and internal bickering" within the ruling Congress in the State have "reached the climax and a chief minister change is inevitable".

He also expressed confidence that the BJP will win both Bagalkot and Davangere South Assembly constituencies in the 9 April by-polls, as he claimed that the Congress government in the state is facing "strong anti-incumbency and public frustration".

"Power tussle, internal bickering (in the Congress) have reached the climax stage. If the by-elections were not announced, things would have reached the final stage, probably immediately after the ongoing Assembly session (scheduled to conclude on 27 March). Because of the by-elections, it will probably be postponed for fifteen days," Vijayendra said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Looking at the crisis in the Congress government, a change in the Chief Ministership is inevitable."

"Recently, when I spoke with some ruling party legislators in the Assembly, they expressed confidence that there would certainly be some results and the CM would resign. But they will have to find the answer to who will become the next CM," he added.

"Poor people are upset, farmers are in crisis, and youth are also unhappy and are against this government. So, I strongly feel that because of the severe anti-incumbency and anti-people policies of Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, I'm one hundred per cent confident that people of both the constituencies will bless BJP with a victory," he added.

The BJP has fielded Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot and Srinivas T Dasakariyappa from Davangere South, following the approval of its Central Election Committee. These bypolls are necessitated following the deaths of sitting Congress MLAs HY Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

In Bagalkot, Meti (Congress) defeated the BJP's Charantimath by 5,878 votes, and in Davangere South, Shivashankarappa (Congress) defeated the BJP's B G Ajay Kumar by 27,888 votes.