Bengaluru: Outgoing Chief Minister Siddharamaiah (he became former this morning as BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa was sworn-in as the new CM) turned emotional at a meeting of the party’s new Legislators yesterday while speaking on Congress’ defeat in the Assembly polls even as senior leaders blamed him for the result.
Seventy-year-old Siddharamaiah received flak from several senior party MLAs, who held him responsible for the Congress’ performance, citing his complete authority in selection of candidates and the Lingayat issue, they said.
Siddharamaiah, who had heavily banked on his ‘Bhagya’ schemes and ‘pro-backward class’ programmes, had dreamt of making a big comeback amidst the BJP challenge. But the surprising results seem to have shaken Siddharamaiah like never before.
Added to the blow the voters have delivered, the Congress High Command has asked the State unit to forge an alliance with JD(S) whom he has detested all the time ever since he quit JD(S) to join Congress in 2006. All these factors made Siddharamaiah to turn emotional and was seen weeping during the Congress Legislative Party meeting at the KPCC office in Bengaluru.
His emotional action brought tears among his colleagues too as quite a number of sitting Ministers had bitten the dust. Interacting with the newly elected MLAs, Siddharamaiah rued his failure to get the majority for the party.
“We have given good governance for five long years. Yet, we did not get the mandate of the people. I toured the State several times and toiled hard to get the party back to power. But none of these yielded us the required mandate,” Siddharamaiah reportedly said with tears in his eyes. Upon seeing their leader sobbing, several other leaders like MLC Dharmasena and others too burst into tears.
Jumping into the situation, several MLAs alleged that confusion over picking the right candidates spoiled the party’s prospects. “Rather than picking winning horses, leaders extended ticket to those who move around powerful leaders in the party, triggering the fall,” MLAs reportedly said. However, Congress State President Dr. G. Parameshwara intervened to resolve the situation and took the leaders away to hold a meeting with JD(S) leaders.
This post was published on May 17, 2018 6:44 pm