Mysuru: “The Zilla and Taluk Panchayat elections are not a referendum on the performance of my government,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asserted here on Saturday as he emerged from voting the in elections for the Mellalli/Arohalli Zilla Panchayat constituency in his village of Siddaramanahundi.
While the poll would give an indication of the people’s sentiments, it would not give a taste of things to come in the Assembly election, he told reporters.
“The issues are different in a state Assembly poll from those in a Zilla Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat and Municipality poll,” he argued, also dismissing the possibility of the recent assembly by-poll results having an impact on the ZP/TP elections.
“Ninety nine percent of the people in these parts have no clue about the bypoll results. There is no relation between the two,” he maintained.
Asked if the KPCC was doing an introspection on the Congress losing two of the three recent byelections, he said, “We couldn’t win in Devadurga, but won in Bidar. And the BJP could not win in Bidar but won in Devadurga. They have retained their two seats, and we have retained ours. The status quo remains. No one won a big victory here.”
Would the district in- charge ministers be held responsible for the rural local bodies results? Mr Siddaramaiah replied in the negative.
