Janata Dal (Secular) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy lashed out at the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for questioning his contribution to the development of Karnataka.
Addressing a public rally here on Wednesday, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he had done more during his stint as a Chief Minister in 20 months than what Mr. Siddaramaiah had done in 5 years.
Mr. Kumarswamy said that during his tenure, he had waived off ₹2,500 crore of farmers’ loans. “We are fighting both the Congress and the BJP who have an understanding. This was evident in the developments in Varuna constituency,” he said.
Siddaramaiah flayed
The JD(S) leader also flayed Mr. Siddaramaiah for questioning former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s contribution and said that the latter had taken an interest in developing irrigation facilities in North Karnataka for which sufficient funds were released and he (Mr. Siddaramaiah) seems to have forgotten it upon joining the Congress. On the criticism that the JD(S) government did not offer a loan waiver to farmers, Mr. Kumaraswamy said it was because Mr. Siddaramaiah was the Finance Minister.
The rally commenced three hours behind schedule by when a large section of the audience had left. Mr. Kumaraswamy expressed his disappointment over the turnout.
“The candidates were perhaps busy with filing nominations and scrutiny and hence did not pay attention to organising this rally,” he said. He referred to the large turnout in the rally held in February in Bengaluru and said, “That was a historic rally and we wanted a similar turnout at Mysuru but we have failed to organise it in a bigger way.”
Earlier, BSP supremo and former UP Chief Minister Mawawati said vulnerable sections of society were in dire straits and lacked protection. The JD(S) and the BSP combine was forged to protect their collective interest, she added. Lashing out at BJP and the Congress, she said this section of society were unsafe and cited the ‘dilution of the SC/ST Act’ as a case in point. “Let alone protection, even FIRs are not registered by the police if Dalits are attacked,” Ms. Mayawati said, while calling for a strengthening of the JD(S)-BSP alliance.
Mr. Deve Gowda and others were present.
