Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that his government was ready to conduct elections to taluk and zilla panchayats, and to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council after the Lok Sabha election results.
Speaking to reporters at his residence here, the Chief Minister, while replying to questions on the Election Commission’s reported plan to move the court with regard to the local body elections and the deadline for the delimitation which was till January, said he would discuss the matter with the Advocate-General and the government would act according to his opinion. The reservation had to be done after the delimitation process.
Responding to queries on the pressure in the party for making his son Yathindra an MLC, the Chief Minister said the high command had earlier said that Dr. Yathindra would be made the MLC.
“I don’t know what decision the high command will take. Dr. Yathindra was asked to vacate the seat for me during the Assembly polls. I was planning to contest from Kolar, but I was asked to contest from Varuna, which was represented by Dr. Yathindra. At that time, the high command had told him that his son would be made MLC,” he replied.
HDK slammed
Criticising former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy for demanding the interrogation of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in the Prajwal Revanna case, Mr. Siddaramaiah accused the Janata Dal (S) leader of trying to weaken the case by blaming Mr. Shivakumar and others and diluting the issue.
“The country’s law has to be respected. Mr. Kumaraswamy had said that his nephew was an accused not guilty. I have also said that the Hassan MP is an accused,” he said.
‘No response from PMO’
Replying to questions on his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for cancelling the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna, Mr. Siddaramaiah said there was so far no reply from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
When reporters said the PMO usually replied immediately to letters, he replied: “It is your mistake to believe that... I will not say Mr. Modi is selective in his replies, but when the Chief Minister of a State writes two letters it needs to be replied. Moreover, the PMO has not replied to my earlier letters too. But I do believe that the PMO will reply to my letters,” he said.
To a question on whether the Centre was delaying the cancellation of Mr. Prajwal Revanna’s passport owing to the ongoing elections, he said: “You ask this question to BJP leaders. Why don’t you ask this to Pralhad Joshi?”
