Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hit out at State BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa over his reported comment that the Assembly elections in the State will be held ahead of schedule.
“Is (Mr.) Yeddyurappa an Election Commissioner?,” Mr. Siddaramaiah asked, when reporters sought his reaction to the former Chief Minister’s remark. “None of his (Mr. Yeddyurappa’s) predictions have so far come true. He is adopting hit-and-run tactics,” the CM said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah claimed Mr. Yeddyurappa had also commented that three former CMs would go to jail. “Has his prediction come true,” he questioned, and told mediapersons to ask Mr. Yeddyurappa why his predictions have not come true. The CM quipped, “He (Yeddyurappa) had become the Income Tax Commissioner and now he has become the Election Commissioner with his comments. I don’t know what role he is going to play in future.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah maintained that his government had fulfilled almost all the promises the party made in its election manifesto. “With one more year of rule, the government will fulfil other promises too,” he said. He said the Steel Bridge project in Bengaluru was not dropped not because of BJP’s protests but owing to public outcry and the stay from the green tribunal. The tunnel project in Bengaluru was still in the discussion stage, he added.
On Vishwanath
Mr. Siddaramaiah told reporters that senior Congress leader A.H. Vishwanath will not leave the party. “I have not responded to his (Vishwanath) statements. He calls the party his mother. I therefore believe he won’t leave the party,” he said.
On the dissent expressed by a section of litterateurs on holding the Sahitya Sammelana ahead of schedule in June in Mysuru, he said, “The preparations have begun.”
Mr Siddaramaiah said he will be on a three-day visit to Dubai from Thursday to inaugurate a forum of non-resident Indians from Karnataka.
