Bengaluru: As the BJP government in Karnataka is all set to complete 100 days in office on November 2, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday expressed confidence about completing his term.

Rejecting suggestions that the party high command was trying to control him, the Chief Minister said he has been given a “free hand”.

“You know all the issues that I have faced. It is the duty of the Chief Minister and a leader to steer the administration ahead amid all this. I’m trying to take everyone ahead together, whether it is ruling side or the Opposition,” Mr. Yediyurappa told reporters here.

“I will complete the remaining three-and-half-years of my term. I’m confident about it. Central leaders have confidence in me, that is the reason I have been made the Chief Minister of this State,” he added.

He said he was confident he would get complete cooperation from party MPs, MLAs and workers to complete the term.

Mr. Yediyurappa was responding to a question about his 100 days in power not being a “happy one”, with natural calamities and trouble within the party, during a press meet organised by the Press Club of Bengaluru and the Reporters Guild.

Mr. Yediyurappa was sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time on July 26, three days after the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) government with the defeat of the Motion of Confidence moved by the then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in the Assembly.

Rejecting reports of attempts by the party leadership to control him, Mr. Yediyurappa said he has been given a “free hand”.

“Ours is a national party, so we have to work under certain limitations. But, our central leaders have not uttered a word of opposition to the decisions I have taken. I have been given a free hand. There has been no obstruction so far from the Cabinet,” he said.

The challenge before his administration is the upcoming bypolls to 15 Assembly constituencies in the State, Mr. Yediyurappa said.

“We will have to win at least 12 to 13 seats, that is the major challenge ahead of us. Along with that, we will have to address the needs of the people affected by the floods,” he said.

Bypolls to 15 of the 17 seats represented by disqualified MLAs, whose resignation and absence from the trust-vote led to the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and made way for the BJP to come to power, will be held on December 5.

The then Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar had disqualified them as MLAs, ruling that those disqualified, cease to be MLAs with immediate effect till the expiry of the 15th Assembly (in 2023). This was challenged in the Supreme Court and the matter is currently being heard.

On the induction of the disqualified MLAs into the party and the discontent within the party against it, Mr. Yediyurappa said “We have not taken any decision. It will depend on what the central party leadership decides.”

“The Supreme Court is likely to decide on the petition of the disqualified MLAs on November 4 or 5, after which we will take a decision,” he said.

The BJP need to win at least six seats in the bypolls to the 15 constituencies to remain in a majority in the 224-member Assembly.