Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister, S M Krishna, who severed his 43- year long association with the Congress to join the BJP a few years ago, said here on Wednesday that he took the decision as he could not take the party’s dynasty rule anymore.
“Power should not be vested with a person just because he or she belongs to a family, and whether he is capable or not. I could work with Mrs Indira Gandhi and Mr Rajiv Gandhi, as they were able leaders and had the ability to run the country. I thought over the issue for a long time and felt that the party was slowly becoming a property of a family from generation to generation. In the end, I could not take it anymore and left,” he said at a meet the press programme of the Press Club of Bangalore and the Bangalore Reporters' Guild here.
When it was pointed out that his own brother, S M Shankar, had become an MLC and his nephew, Gurucharan had become president of a zilla panchayat, Mr Krishna claimed that becoming a ZP president was more difficult than becoming a minister or Chief Minister.
He said he decided to join the BJP inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “ Mr Modi comes from a different background and came alone to Delhi from Gujarat. He doesn’t know where he will go from there and has not reserved any chair for his kith or kin. The country needs leadership like that. He has provided spotless administration devoid of corruption for five years. Based on his governance, he should be given a second term,” he maintained.
On rumours that he had joined the BJP only to bail his son-in-law out of some financial irregularities, he said it was the other way round. “After I joined the BJP, I-T officials raided my son-in-law. That was the way I was rewarded for joining the BJP. But the law takes its own course,'' he said.
Mr Krishna, who also did a stint as the country’s external affairs minister, noted that going by the World Bank, India was the fastest growing economy in the world. Asked which period saw it develop the most, he said development had taken place under all governments, but the question was whether it was sufficient for that particular period and if it had met the aspirations of the people.
“The population of the country is so big that it is becoming impossible to meet the people’s aspirations,” he added.
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