Karnataka   

‘Congress is ready for elections in May’

Siddaramaiah

MysORE: Former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday refuted allegations that the Congress was attempting to delay elections to the State Assembly because it was not prepared to face the electorate. “The charges made by certain parties are baseless. The Congress is, in fact, favouring elections in May. It could be the ploy of opposition parties to mislead people. We are for early elections,” he clarified.

Speaking to presspersons on Friday, the Congress leader said his party had made its stand clear on holding elections according to the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission as it could bring new faces to State politics. Moreover, the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has increased following redrawing of constituencies, he said.

Mr. Siddaramaiah observed that many aspirants in the new constituencies would be forced to wait for five more years if the upcoming elections are not conducted as per the recommendations of Delimitation Commission. He, however, refused to comment on the reason for the delay in giving him a responsible position within his party. “I do not want to speak on the issue at the moment,” he said.

To a query, he said the party high command was looking into the issue of revamping the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). Mr. Siddaramaiah also refused to react to the allegations made against him by former MP and scion of Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, in his letter to Party President Sonia Gandhi.

Replying to allegations of a “Congress hold” on the Raj Bhavan, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “Governor Rameshwar Thakur is a highly experienced person and governance is not new to him. It is wrong to say that his decisions are influenced by his party.”

When his reaction was sought on the removal of P.B. Mahishi as the Chief Secretary and appointment of an MLC from Andhra Pradesh to the Syndicate of Women’s University in Bijapur, he said, “The Governor has already withdrawn the appointment made to the university Syndicate. I do not want to question his wisdom on the Chief Secretary’s appointment. He is wise enough to take appropriate decisions.”

Mr. Siddaramaiah maintained that the State’s tax revenue had declined despite a rise in economic development.

Blaming former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who was the finance minister in the H.D. Kumaraswamy Cabinet, for the slump in tax revenue, he alleged that Mr. Yeddyurappa failed to present a “good budget” and its effect is being felt now.

He asked how the Governor had implemented development works as announced in the Budget when no allocation had been made for them.

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