Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah thanked the people of Varuna for electing his son Yathindra like they did for him twice in 2008 and 2013.
“By giving him a thumping victory, the people have reposed faith in me and I’ll never forget them in my life. They would have elected me if I had contested from Varuna,” he said, after inaugurating the thanksgiving function organised for the voters of Varuna here on Tuesday. Dr. Yathindra and several party leaders were present.
A feast was arranged for the voters at Jayamma Govindegowda Convention Hall in Kuvempunagar here and a large number of people from Varuna and the supporters of Mr. Siddaramaiah were present to greet the former Chief Minister who visited Mysuru for the first time after the election results. Mr. Siddaramaiah stayed away from Mysuru since over month after his defeat in Chamundeshwari seat. In his address, Mr. Siddaramaiah said Dr. Yathindra won by a huge margin of over 58,000 votes and this margin was among the highest in the State. “My son and I will serve the constituency and both are indebted to you,” he told the gathering.
The former CM said the Congress did not get expected number of seats though it was ahead in the vote share. “We got more vote share but less number of seats but the BJP won more seats though its vote share was less than Congress. This is the beauty of democracy.”
He said the people did not bless us despite giving a “corruption-free”, “scam-free”, “stable and pro-people government”. “We did more work than any other government that ruled the State. We launched many welfare and revolutionary schemes, including Anna Bhagya and Ksheera Bhagya.”
He said the Congress had to join hands with the JD(S) to form the coalition government to keep the BJP out of power since no party had got majority.
While thanking the people of Varuna for electing him, Dr. Yathindra, a first-time MLA, credited his victory to his father and his five-year stable governance. He also thanked former Minister H.C. Mahadevappa, Congress MP R. Dhruvanarayana and former Minister Vijayashankar for striving for his victory. He also thanked the party workers and others for their determined efforts to ensure his victory.
