With the BJP poised to emerge as the single largest party in the Karnataka elections, the party on Sunday reiterated it would "sit in the Opposition Bench" rather than tie-up with JD-S in case it fails to reach the magical figure of 113."We said it before the election that we will sit in the opposition bench if we are not able to reach the magical figure of 113 and we still stand by it," Karnataka BJP president Sadananda Gowda said.He, however said that the dissidents within the Deve Gowda's party are welcome to join the BJP."If they want to break away and join us, how can we stop them," the senior BJP leader said.While early election trends show that BJP might just be able to reach the magical figure of 113 out of 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, the party might also fall short by a few seats, Gowda was confident of the crossing the mark."It is certain that we will form the government. We will get 113-117 seats," the state president said. With BJP doing well in rural areas which was primarily strongholds of both the Congress and JD-S, Gowda attributed its rise in these areas to the recent delimitation process. "We have been able to get 5-7 per cent more seats in rural areas because of the delimitation process," he said.
