Karnataka, UP, Bihar key to BJP victory in polls: Ananth Kumar

The 54-year-old Kumar, who has a record of winning Bangalore South constituency for five straight times, is pitted against Congress candidate and technocrat Nandan Nilekani in the upcoming polls scheduled for April 17.  
The party General Secretary also asserted that Karnataka has been BJP's gateway to the south and would once again emerge as a multi-bagger state for BJP.

“You cannot have different levels of popularity for the same person in a pan-India situation and I can say that Modi is as popular in Karnataka as he is in Gujarat or any other part of the country.

“In fact, if there are three states which are going to pilot the change at the Centre, they are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka,” said Kumar, who is also member of BJP's Parliamentary Board.

In the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, Kumar got nearly 4.38 lakh votes, defeating Congress' Krishna Byre Gowda by a margin of over 37,000 votes.