Pro-Cong wave will sweep 2014 elections: K'taka CM

Siddaramaiah felicitated at a function organised by Rajya Sabha member VH Hyderabad: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah felt that the pro-Congress wave that had started in Karnataka would continue to sweep across the country during the 2014 elections and the backward class leadership would get their due importance. Speaking at a felicitation function organised by Rajya Sabha MP V Hanumantha Rao at Ravindra Bharati on Saturday, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka was the land of reformers where the distinct voice of the backward classes was established as early as in the 11th century. It had seen rare reformist movement in Indian history which gave voice to the thrust for equality of the downtrodden masses in Karnataka. The movement also brought about an ideal social equation of the dalit and the backward classes through social criticism and spiritual quest, he said. He said Devara Dasimaiah, who belonged to the weaver community, was hailed as the Adya Vachanakara, the first Vachanakara of the Bhakti movement. Later, many Vachanakaras from dalit and backward casts fought against the evils of caste system. This was the most significant phase of history of Karnataka from where the distinct social and cultural identity of the backward classes started emerging. He said, while the Karnataka had seen many a BC leader like Devaraj Urs, Veerappa Moily, Bangarappa, this was not the case in Andhra Pradesh. Here you just had few leaders like Damodaram Sanjeevaiah who could become chief minister, he added. He claimed that the Congress party had given chance to weaker sections in the society to hold highest positions in the country as part of its culture and it had started with former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and continued with Indira Gandhi and now Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi too were following the same principles. Siddaramaiah said that there was a close proximity between the cultures in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. All weaker sections and minorities in Karnataka got united and saw to it that Narendra Modi's campaign proved to be a disaster in Karnataka. The people of Andhra Pradesh too should unite and defeat BJP and other regional parties and see that the Congress party comes back to power in 2014 so that Rahul Gandhi would become the prime minister after the upcoming elections. AICC secretary K B Krishnamurthy said Siddaramaiah now has an onerous task of rebuilding a "battered Karnataka" that the BJP destroyed during its rule. Union Ministers of State Rahman Khan, Panabaka Lakshmi, Balram Naik, Srikanth Jena, Sarve Satyanarayana, MPs T Subbarami Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Vishwanath (Karnataka), state ministers N Raghuveera Reddy, Pithani Satyanarayana, D Manikya Varaprasad, Danam Nagender, Basavaraju Saraiah and Mukesh Goud, Legislative Council Chairman A Chakrapani and a host of Congress leaders from the State and Karnataka were present on the occasion.