Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Monday that the B.S. Yediyurappa government was unlikely to stay in power for long as mid-term elections were imminent.
Speaking to presspersons in Hubballi on Monday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said it was difficult to run a government with a bunch of rebel MLAs for long. He added that he has asked Congress workers to strengthen the party and be prepared for elections.
To a question, he said that the Centre had not released money at all for Karnataka despite the devastation caused by floods. “At a time when the State was suffering because of floods, BJP leaders, including the Chief Minister, were shuttling between Delhi and Bengaluru. They should at least now redress the grievances of the flood-affected,” he said.
On the blame game between him and the family of H.D. Deve Gowda over the fall of the coalition government, Mr. Siddaramaiah said he has already given a detailed reply on the matter. “They allege that I sent Byrathi Basavaraj and Somashekhar to Mumbai. Then who sent Vishwanath, Narayana Gowda and Gopalayya of the JD(S) to Mumbai? Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy are trying to blame me for the collapse of the government,” he said.
On the change of the Congress State unit president, he said did not have any idea about it but had come to know that senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad would visit the State.
