Karnataka election: Rahul Gandhi says Congress wining 'hands down'; updates

With Karnataka Assembly election 2018 now on their heads, the BJP and Congress have just one more day to convince and woo voters. Catch all the updates around the Karnataka election here

With the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 just two days away, the BJP and Congress' high-voltage campaigning will come to an end on Thursday at 5 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today interacted with BJP Karnataka's SC/ST/OBC and slum morcha workers, slamming the Congress for disrespecting B R Ambedkar while trying to burnish his own government's record regarding welfare of SC/STs and OBCs. Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that he was confident of his party's victory in the Karnataka election.

For the BJP, party president Amit Shah and the party's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa will be campaigning in the state today, while Congress chief Gandhi and incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will campaign for their party on the final day.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Gandhi, the Karnataka election campaign has also seen political heavyweights Sonia Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaign for their respective parties.

The last day of campaigning for the Karnataka polls comes after Prime Minister Modi and Congress chief Gandhi were face-to-face in the state on the second last day for the campaigning. Working seriously on his 'Congress Mukt Bharat' mission, Modi used all of his oratory skills to lambast the Congress in his four election rallies on Wednesday. On the other hand, Gandhi said in his Basavanagudi rally that the people of Karnataka would reject Prime Minister Modi and the BJP. The Congress president also attacked the Prime Minister for being silent on the issue of alleged Dalit atrocities.

The election in Karnataka will be held on May 12 in 223 constituencies, out of the 224 constituencies of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, while the counting of votes and announcement of result will take place on May 15. The election for one constituency has been postponed following the death of B N Vijay Kumar, the Jayanagar BJP candidate.

Here are the top ten developments regarding the May 12 Karnataka Assembly election 2018:

1) Rahul Gandhi says confident of Congress victory in Karnataka: Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Rahul Gandhi said that he was confident of a Congress victory in the Karnataka election. "I have been travelling around Karnataka for few months now... we all stood together and fought (the) campaign on fundamental issues. We've prepared a manifesto which is truly voice of the people," said the Congress president.

Karnataka polls: Modi chides Cong; Siddaramaiah reminds him of 'Reddy gang'

There is a fierce competition between the BJP and Congress for Karnataka Assembly election 2018. PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath will address rallies in Karnataka today. Catch Karnataka polls 2018 updates

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were in battleground Karnataka on Thursday, crossing swords over a plethora of issues including corruption, ahead of the May 12 voting to elect a new government in the state.While Modi played a nationalism card and accused the Congress of promoting only one family, Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at him for his "personal attacks" that "doesn't behove" of a person holding a high office.Modi alleged that the Congress had insulted the Indian Army by questioning the truth behind 2016 surgical strikes against terrorists in Pakistan. He said the Congress was spreading "lies" by accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being anti-Dalit, anti-Muslim and anti-women.Seeking to give an adrenaline boost to BJP campaign to wrest the state from the Congress and form its government for a second time, Modi addressed three election meetings and Rahul Gandhi four during their whirlwind trip.The Karnataka government is a "gold medalist" in corruption and Congress leaders are "drunk on power", Modi told a public meeting in state capital Bengaluru.Dubbing the Siddaramaiah government as "seedharupaiah government" (corrupt), a punning allusion to the chief minister's name, Modi said an ordinary man cannot get done any work without bribing officials. "Because of this seedha rupaiah government Karnataka is immersed in debt," he told an election rally in http://Ballari.In the line of Congress fire over the BJP granting party tickets to Reddy brothers, accused of involvement in a humongous illegal iron ore mining scam, the prime minister hit back. "This Karnataka government frustrated all attempts by the Centre to stop illegal mining in Ballari....to allow the auction of mining blocks. But the Siddaramaiah government failed to formulate a mining policy in five years," he told an election rally in Ballari.Rahul Gandhi, who addressed election rallies in Aurad, Bhaki, Humnabad and Bidar, slammed Modi for personal attacks against him. Gandhi, however, said whether the attacks on him were right or wrong, he would not make any personal attack on Modi because he was the prime minister.He questioned his silence over the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal and fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi who defrauded the Punjab National Bank of thousands of crores of rupees.Rahul Gandhi said Modi had promised to deposit Rs 1.5 million (Rs 15 lakh) each in poor citizens' bank accounts but didn't do it. Gandhi said Modi also promised 20 million (two crore) jobs to the youth every year and higher minimum support price to farmers but he did none of this.

Here are the top 10 developments in the BJP and Congress' ongoing Karnataka Assembly election 2018 campaign:

1) Siddaramaiah takes to Twitter to attack Modi, Adityanath: Stung by the attack launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath against him, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday took to micro-blogging site Twitter to hit out at them.

With hashtag #ModiHitWicket, Siddaramaiah posed questions to Modi as he arrived for extensive canvassing in Kalaburagi, Ballari and Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah reminded Modi to mention about the "loot of Rs 35,000 crore (Rs 350 billion) worth iron ore" allegedly by BJP's Janardhana Reddy.