Bengaluru: Turning emotional, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who has a heart condition, on Friday told the people of Mandya district, that he did not know how long he had to live, but he wanted to make use of every minute for the welfare of the state.
Addressing a public meeting in Malavalli town to campaign for his party’s candidate, L R Shivaramegowda for the Mandya Lok Sabha bypoll, the Chief Minister noted that he had an opportunity to serve the people for the second time thanks to the post-poll alliance with the Congress to keep the BJP out of power. The alliance was part of the mahaghatbandhan to defeat the NDA government at the Centre in the 2019 poll, he said, adding, "I have health problems and only a few know what condition I was in when I returned from Israel. I am surviving because of your blessings."
Training his guns on the media, he regretted that the support, he had received from it during his first stint as Chief Minister was missing now despite the many good programmes of his government. “They (media) are predicting the fall of my government every day. Let me assure you all that this government will complete its full tenure of five years. I want to give my maximum time for the overall development of Karnataka," he maintained.
Taking the BJP to task, Mr Kumaraswamy said its leaders had called his budget a “Mandya budget” when Rs 500 crore was given for the district’s development. But the special grants were released because Mandya city had not seen any development in the last 50 years, he explained.
