Bengaluru: Answering a question on whether he would be the first Dalit CM in the state post the 2018 election, Dr Parameshwar said he should not be blamed if there is a demand for a Dalit CM.
“In the first place, no one declared me the CM candidate during the 2013 elections. There is a convention in the party that the PCC president would be made CM, but people had rejected me at Koratagere from where I contested. I was accidentally born as Dalit and never made it a plank to come up in life. When some members of the Dalit community started feeling the need for a Dalit CM, everyone started saying it was a game being played by Dr Parameshwar. There are many prominent Dalit leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge,'' he reminded. In 2018 too, the Legislature party will choose its leader like it did in 2013. “In politics, everyone is an aspirant, whether he reaches the goal or not, people will decide,'' he said.
On seniors quitting the party, Dr Parameshwar said that he did not know why S.M. Krishna quit the party and appealed to other senior leaders not to leave the party, which they built.
Former Mysuru MP A.H. Vishwanath has not been issuing any statement in the last fortnight and must have reconsidered his decision, he said.
Dismissing reports of early polls to the state Assembly, Dr Parameshwar said the Congress was not in favour of dissolving the Assembly early. “I don't know if B.S. Yeddyurappa has specific information from Union government,” he quipped referring to the BJP leader's claim.
