Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ruled out the possibility of the coming Assembly elections in Karnataka throwing up a hung House.
“There cannot be a hung Assembly in Karnataka”, he said while fielding reporters’ queries in Mysuru on Friday.
Disputing the findings of poll surveys appearing in sections of the media, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the first round of a survey he had commissioned shows that the Congress will secure a clear majority. The second round of the exercise is continuing and the report of the survey will come in January.
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However, Mr. Siddaramaiah refused to share the statistics of the survey he had commissioned. “If I disclose the statistics, the Opposition parties will raise questions. I have commissioned the survey for my understanding of the situation”, he said.
He denied that JD(S) leaders H.D. Deve Gowda and H.D. Kumaraswamy had a “soft corner” for him. However, he hoped that they spoke the truth about his administration in the State.
Asked about the possibility of secular forces joining hands in the State, Mr. Siddaramaiah said Congress was strong in the State and added that there was no secular party in Karnataka other than the Congress.
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Referring to Union Minister of State Ananthkumar Hegde’s critical remarks against him, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the “BJP leaders’ culture” can be seen in the language they used. The Congress, on the contrary, had suspended senior party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi in harsh words, he said before adding that he cannot expect much from the BJP, which is a “communal party.”
Hanuma Jayanti
Holding BJP and Mysuru’s Lok Sabha MP Pratap Simha responsible for the outbreak of trouble in Hunsur, Mr. Siddaramaiah questioned Mr. Simha’s propriety in crashing into the barricade put up by the police outside the town. Exhorting the MP to respect the law of the land, Mr. Siddaramaiah pointed out that there is no exemption in law for a MP.
Reacting to the BJP’s charge that the Congress government ensured that the Tipu Jayanti programme was held in full security while obstructing Hanuma Jayanti, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Hanuma Jayanthi procession was also by the district administration on the same route taken last year. But Mr. Simha made it a prestige to take the procession on a different route, which the authorities did not allow.
With regard to Tipu Jayanti, Mr. Siddaramaiah said security was extended as the BJP leaders themselves had expressed opposition and had threatened to obstruct its celebration.
He accused the BJP leaders of opposing Tipu Jayanti for the sake of politics ahead of the Assembly elections. BJP leader and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had himself paid glowing tributes to Tipu Sultan in the preface of a book on the 18th century warrior king penned by historian Sheikh Ali, he added.