Don't need Prashant Kishor in 2018: Siddaramaiah
CM says local leaders capable of planning and executing a victory in 2018 and ensuring state remains a Congress bastion.
Bengaluru: Buoyed over the victory in the two assembly seats in just concluded by-polls, Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah on Sunday declared that there was no need to hire the services of poll managers like Prashant Kishor in the state to retain power in 2018.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with AICC general secretary, Digvijay Singh in New Delhi, Mr Siddaramaiah in his typical laid-back attitude asserted that the victory in recent by-elections only proves the fact that there is no anti-incumbency against the Congress government in the state. "Our local leaders are capable of both planning and executing a poll victory, hence what is the point in hiring a person like Mr Kishor?," he countered in response to a question.
He further analysed that former chief minister late S. Bangarappa joining the BJP in 2004 and the BJP being denied their share of power during the tenure of the BJP-JDS coalition in 2007 were the two main reasons for the rise of the party and its leader, B.S. Yeddyruappa. "But for these two crucial incidents, BJP would not have reached its status in Karnataka which is traditionally a Congress bastion, It will remain a Congress stronghold in 2018 too," he argued.
In response to a question, Mr Siddaramaiah stated that the state government has not yet decided to waive farmer loans adding that even if the Congress government does for the sake of political mileage, it will not have much of an impact. "Farmer loans taken from co-operative banks are already way cheaper in the state and it amounts to only a minor fraction of the entire farming loans in the state. If at all the state needs to be benefit in the true sense, the Union government has to waive farmer loans taken from nationalized banks as well completely," he reiterated.
Training his guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders, the CM quipped that state BJP leaders were acting like lame ducks before PM Narendra Modi and did not open up even for the sake of protecting the state's interests though they do talk a lot in public.