Bengaluru: Even before the heat and dust of the Assembly elections could settle down and the JD(S)-Congress coalition government could get down to the nitty-gritty of governance, the release of a controversial video in which former CM Siddaramaiah is seen airing his reservations over a fresh budget, has hit the coalition partners hard.
Sources claim one the leaders owing allegiance to Siddaramaiah deliberately released the video in which the latter obliquely slams both CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and his deputy Dr G. Parameshwar. A section of Congress leaders feel Mr Siddaramaiah was trying to send a message loud and clear message to his rivals in the Congress that he was no ‘spent force’and also to the Deve Gowda family, that there was no bonhomie left between them anymore, after his humiliating defeat in Chamundeshwari to the JD(S) candidate G.T. Devegowda.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior Congress leader disclosed that the Siddarmaiah camp feels their leader has been completely ‘sidelined’ in the party after losing the elections badly last month and has timed the release of the video to coincide with preparations for a fresh budget. "Almost everything had been settled with Mr Kumaraswamy taking ‘permission’ from Congress president, Rahul Gandhi to present a new budget. Now it has been strongly contested by none other than Mr Siddaramaiah which has come as rude shock to the JD(S). This looks like a deliberate attempt to assess where they (the Siddu camp) stands as of now," the source explained. The Siddu camp is keen to know how the JD(S) and rival groups within the Congress would react after the release of this video. "At times, politics is a psychological game too. Leaders like Siddaramaiah and former prime minister, H.D. Deve Gowda are very good at these mind games. It provides an opportunity to know where exactly they stand as of now," the source claimed. The source ruled out the possibility of an ‘outsider’ releasing the video to embarrass Siddaramaiah. "In the video, it is very clear who met Mr Siddaramaiah. One of their followers might have recorded this and it all looks very much stage managed. Even the questions seem to have been well planned. The camp wants to send out signals to rivals in the party that that they are very much active, the source claimed.
