BJP's downfall has started from Karnataka, won't win 2024 Lok Sabha election: Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday asserted that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will win the Lok Sabha election next year, and the BJP's downfall has started from Karnataka, where the party lost the Assembly elections in May.

Siddaramaiah claimed the BJP will lose the Parliamentary elections as the party will not get a clear mandate.

"After Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, price rise started, and the economy (was) destroyed. It has become difficult for the farmers, Dalits and economically weaker sections to survive. People have also lost their peace due to communalism. People are living in fear. This is the BJP's gift," he told reporters in Bengaluru.

Reacting to the BJP leaders' charge that opposition leaders are uniting fearing Modi, Siddaramaiah said: "Didn’t we face Modi? Aren't we strong in Karnataka? Congress won at all the places wherever Modi went for campaigning (during Assembly election). The BJP's downfall has started from Karnataka.".

On the possibility of Janata Dal (Secular) aligning with the NDA, the Chief Minister said the former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led party has no ideology as it had once formed an alliance with the BJP to form government in the state.

Opposition leaders representing 23 parties are expected to gather in Bengaluru on Monday and Tuesday to draw up plans for a joint fight against the BJP in the Lok Sabha election next year.