Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to exert pressure on Congressman D.K. Shivakumar to join the BJP by way of getting IT raids conducted on his family and friends.
Speaking to presspersons during a stopover at Hubballi airport on the way to Bagalkot, Mr. Siddramaiah said that since Mr. Shivakumar was a “born Congressman,” he would not yield to the pressure tactics.
Regarding reports about Mr. Shivakumar being promised the post of Deputy Chief Minister for switching sides, Mr. Siddaramaiah said there was no such constitutional post but a political post created to satisfy political leaders.
‘Feelers from BJP leaders’
Mr. Siddaramaiah said several BJP leaders were in touch with Congress leaders, and were willing to join the party. “We are ready to accommodate the BJP leaders. But we are checking whether they have a RSS background. We will not take BJP leaders with RSS background because such leaders are communal”, he said.
‘Total failure’
Terming demonetisation a total failure, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the exercise which put common people to hardships had failed to make any impact on black money, corruption, terrorism and fake currency. “The Prime Minister had mentioned these four objectives for his decision and even after a year there has been no impact. That is the reason we observed it as black day”, he said.
Tipu Jayanti
Lambasting the BJP leaders for opposing the public celebration of Tipu Jayanti, the Chief Minister described BJP leaders Jagadish Shettar and B.S. Yeddyurappa as ‘double tongued’. “Previously Jagadish Shettar and Yeddyurappa have praised Tipu Sultan and taken part in the birth anniversary celebrations, and posed for photographs wearing the Tipu turban. As Chief Minister, Mr Jagadish Shettar has written the foreword for a book on Tipu Sultan, and now BJP leaders are opposing it for political reasons. They don’t have any moral right to oppose the birth anniversary”, he said.
On the Lingayat issue, Mr. Siddramaiah said he would not like to get involved in the controversy but clarified that the State government had the authority to make a recommendations to the Centre, which decided on such matters. “We have not yet reached the recommendation stage as there is no consensus yet among the community members. And with regard to reservation facilities under minority status, the Backward Classes Commission has the authority to make recommendations”, he said.
