The Bharatiya Janatha Party in Karnataka has a 15-day advantage over its rivals and this has been proven in the manner in which we announced our list of candidates way ahead of the rest, Arun Jaitley, senior BJP leader in-charge of the party in Karnataka, said.

Jaitley landed in Bengaluru to oversee the preparations being made by the party for the forthcoming elections in Karnataka and interacted with the media at the new election office of the BJP at Malleshwaram, Bengaluru.

Our candidates are already on the field as they had the advantage that their names were announced early. Our campaign has begun while the rest of the parties continue to squabble to finalise their list, Jaitley also said.

On a confident note he said that the BJP has everything going in its favour and also that there is no ambiguity in declaring their chief ministerial candidate. He made it clear that there was no infighting and B S Yeddyurappa would lead the party as CM once they come to power in Karnataka.

Taking a dig at their main rivals the Congress, the BJP leader said the environment is not suitable for the Congress.

There is a leadership crisis in the Congress and also the country is reeling under an economic crisis at present. The Congress thought that they had the upper hand when they appointed Manmohan Singh [Images], an economist, as the prime minister. They thought that it would be their strength, but it has turned out to be a nightmare, he said.

The unprecedented price rise in the nation is a conspiracy against the common man and history would show that no party which has been responsible for such high inflation has won the polls anywhere in the world, Jaitley added.

He also said that terrorism has grown to unimaginable heights under the United Progressive Alliance. Places which were considered to be safe destinations too have turned into terror affected areas and this is due to the weak policy of the UPA, he said.

Jaitley also took a dig at the Janata Dal-Secular, which is playing opportunistic politics and talks only in terms of a coalition government.

You cannot fool the people all the time. The BJP will win with an absolute majority this time. The year 2004 was a major milestone for the BJP. The year 2008 will be a turning point, he said.