Bangalore:
From meeting people from the Brahmin community to the backward, Ananth Kumar's day is packed as he re-visits his constituency, Bangalore South, seeking the mandate of the voters for the 6th consecutive term.
BJP leader Ananth Kumar will face Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and former Aadhar chairman, who is fighting elections for the first time.
Reacting to Nandan Nilekani declaring his assets in full at nearly Rs 8000 crore, Mr Kumar told NDTV, "All have declared their assets. It is the way and procedure of filing nominations and nothing unusual about it. If Nilekani thinks and claims he is the only or one of the few declaring assets in full then he is hoodwinking the people and voters."
"There is a strong anti-Congress wave in Bangalore and Karnataka. People do not want either Nandan Nilekani or Rahul Gandhi. They want BJP, they want change, they want Narendra Modi. You will see that," he added.
The national general secretary of the BJP sounded upbeat and certain about the party doing well in Karnataka and all over India. "BJP will win more than 20 seats out of 28 seats in Karnataka. Currently we hold 19 seats. Three states are key for us - UP, Bihar and Karnataka - between UP-Bihar we can bring 70 plus seats and from Karnataka we may get more than 20. We are heading for absolute majority."
Mr Kumar, known to be a close aide of senior leader LK Advani, did not want to take any questions on the rumoured discontentment of the BJP veteran on the choice of his seat for candidature.
In Karnataka, it is an open secret that the state's strong man Yeddyurappa and Ananth Kumar are not thick of friends. However, the five-term MP did have words of praise for his foe-turned-friend Yedyyurappa who is facing JDS' Gita Shivarajkumar, daughter in law of famous Kannada star Rajkumar. "Shimoga is our seat. Yeddyurappa ji will win hands down in Shimoga," said a smiling Ananth kumar.