Bengaluru(ANI): Former Karnataka minister and Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni on Saturday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has many criminals and the party should pay attention to that first after the BJP asked questions about him getting a ticket for Karnataka Assembly elections.

“I am a tough candidate and they will keep on levelling allegations against me. They have been saying all this for 2-3 months. We will be waiting for court orders. We haven’t had a judgment on my case yet. BJP has many criminals, they should pay attention to that first,” Vinay Kulkarni told ANI.

He further added that the allegations against him are yet to be proven and the whole of Karnataka knows who lodged the case.

“It is not proven yet, but the powerful leaders of the BJP keep on putting allegations. The whole of Karnataka knows who has lodged the case. The BJP questions the powerful leaders of Congress. Even the BJP has leaders who have different kinds of cases against them”, he said.

Former minister Kulkarni who has been named by Congress as its candidate from the Dharwad constituency will have to campaign remotely since the Supreme Court has barred his entry into the district after the CBI named him in connection with the 2016 murder case of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, Yogeeshgouda Goudar.

Kulkarni has been out on bail on the condition that he will not enter the district nor will do anything to tamper with the evidence in the murder case.

Kulkarni was allegedly involved in connection with the murder of Goudar, on June 15, 2016, after he defeated the rival Congress party candidate in the Zila Panchayat elections.

The Congress had on March 25 announced its first list of 124 candidates for the polls, which included names of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and State Party president DK Shivakumar.

Elections are slated to be held in Karnataka in a single phase on May 10, and the counting of votes will take place on May 13.

Karnataka, which has 224 seats in the Assembly currently has 119 MLAs of the ruling BJP, while Congress has 75 and its ally JD(S) has 28 seats.

Political parties in the State including the ruling BJP, Congress and ally JD(S) are engaged in a spate of allegations and counter-allegations, with the latter attempting to corner the government over the issue of corruption.

Notably, while the opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular have announced 166 and 93 candidates respectively so far, the ruling BJP is yet to announce its first list of candidates for the 224-seat assembly elections in Karnataka.