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Siddaramaiah defends statement, HD Kumaraswamy denies tie up with BJP
Siddaramaiah defends statement, HD Kumaraswamy denies tie up with BJP
Former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s Friday statement that some within the Congress besides JD(S) and BJP worked against him leading to his defeat in Chamundeshwari constituency in the last Assembly elections, invited angry reactions from his opponents on Saturday
Mysuru: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah's Friday statement that some within the Congress besides JD(S) and BJP worked against him leading to his defeat in Chamundeshwari constituency in the last Assembly elections, invited angry reactions from his opponents on Saturday.
Mr Siddaramaiah who had a meeting with prominent Congress leaders from Mysuru and Chamarajnagar districts at a city hotel here on Saturday as part of his efforts to strengthen the party, defended his statement.
He, however, clarified that he only blamed local party workers in Chamundeshwari for his defeat and did not even name those who worked against him.
Reacting to Siddaramaiah's allegation, former chief minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy denied any a secret understanding with BJP in the last Assembly elections.
Mr Siddaramaiah asserted that BJP and JD(S) had an understanding in 29 Assembly constituencies. "Who got into internal understanding and fielded Gopalaiah against me, in Badami?" he wondered. "It is fact BJP and JD(S) had an understanding in 29 constituencies. I didn't say they got into understanding in all the constituencies," he said.
Answering a question from media persons, Mr Siddaramaiah said, "I do not know if JD(S) will merge with BJP. But JD(S) is going soft on BJP. We have seen the way they openly stood by BJP during the chaos in the Legislative Council recently. When I was with Janata parivar, we had won 59 seats. Now their seat strength has dropped to 29."
Ridiculing Siddaramaiah's allegation that Kumarswamy ruled the State from his Taj West End room and remained unavailable to MLAs either at his office or residence, leading to their exit from Congress-JD(S) coalition, JD(S) leader Sa Ra Mahesh said Mr Kumaraswamy had to stay in the hotel as Siddaraiah had not vacated his official residence.
Reacting to this, Mr Siddaramaiah stated that, "Mr Kumarswamy had stayed at the hotel even before he became Chief Minister. The JD(S) leaders including Mr Kumarswamy himself did not deny it. Then where is the question of dispute about it? It is not true that I did not vacate the house," he said.
