‘People voted based on purely local issues’

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday ruled out the Modi factor in the BJP’s victory in the Assembly elections and said that the people voted the party to power based on purely local issues. However, there won’t be any impact of the election outcome on next year’s Lok Sabha elections, he said.

“The verdict will not have any bearing on the Lok Sabha elections as parliamentary elections are fought on different issues. Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are different and the two cannot be viewed in a similar way,” he told presspersons here.

To whether BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is behind that party’s victory, he asked: “Where’s the Modi wave. The elections in the States were fought on local issues and the people have voted accordingly. State and national issues cannot be the same.” When his reaction was sought on the reasons for the party’s debacle in the elections, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the party must find out the reasons for the loss.

Asked whether the party made a mistake by not projecting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate, which could be one of the reasons for the poll defeat, the Chief Minister said that the election results in thefour States cannot be seen as an indicator to judge anything.

When reporters asked who should be held responsible for the loss and whether the party must introspect over the loss, he replied, “Everybody in the party is responsible for the defeat and I am sure the party will discuss the reasons for the debacle and take corrective steps.”

On the Aam Aadmi Party’s performance in Delhi, he said, “The people must have voted for the party based on its fight against corruption.”

On appointments to boards and corporations, he said, “We will do it (appointments to boards and corporations) but we cannot say when.”

Mr. Siddaramaiah said that he met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi who promised to give interest-free loans of Rs. 7,200 crore to overcome the crisis in the sugarcane industry.

The Chief Minister said that he had issued strict directions to Forest Department officers to find a permanent solution to increasing incidents of man-animal conflicts in Mysore district.