Karnataka Chief Minister "like unwanted child" for BJP: Siddaramaiah

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sep 10, 2019 : Raising questions about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s longevity in Karnataka, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah today said Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is like an "unwanted child" as his party’s central leadership was not interested in him taking the top job, NDTV reported.

 

The former chief minister alleged that Mr Yediyurappa came to power through the backdoor without the public mandate. "He has come to power through the backdoor without public mandate and against principles of democracy.. They did not have public mandate as they had only 105 MLAs out of 113 required for simple majority," Mr Siddaramaiah said.

He said the party would have had no objection if he had become Chief Minister with the mandate of the people.

"Unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yediyurappa has become CM without public mandate...How long he will be CM I don’t know... Yediyurappa is like an unwanted child, BJP had no interest in him becoming CM," the Congress leader claimed.

Following the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, Mr Yediyurappa was sworn in as the Chief Minister on July 26, and subsequently he proved majority on the floor of the assembly on July 29.

Absence of 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs during the trust vote had led to the collapse of the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government and helped the BJP come to power.

Mr Siddaramaiah, who is the leader of the Congress legislature party, accused Mr Yediyurappa of indulging in transfer of officials and vendetta politics since taking over. "Has he done anything else?people are suffering due to floods, still no proper relief has been given to them," he said.

People would teach a lesson to those practising such politics, he said, noting that he was Chief Minister for five years, but never indulged in such things.

He said Mr Yediyurappa on the first day after taking over as Chief Minister had said he will not indulge in hate politics. "It now looks like he said it to indicate that he will do it (hate politics). For public consumption he said he will not indulge in hate politics, but other than that he has not done anything else."