Bengaluru: Continuing his attack on Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa, former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday caustically remarked that Mr Yediyurappa is being treated like an ‘unwanted child’ by BJP central leaders as the party top brass was not in favour of toppling the previous JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state.
In the same breath, he slammed BJP state president, Nalinkumar Kateel for the remarks against him and wondered how the BJP could appoint such a person to the party's top post.
“I do not know, how ignorant one can be. If Mr Kateel knew who controls the central agencies like the CBI, ED and I-T, he would not have dared to make a statement that I am behind Mr D.K. Shivakumar's arrest. This proves that he is making statements for the sake of publicity,” he quipped while speaking to reporters here.
Accusing Mr Yediyurappa of coming to power through the back door, Mr Siddaramaiah said he did not have the mandate as the party has only 105 MLAs when 113 is required for a simple majority.
“I do not know how long he will remain chief minister. The BJP itself was not keen on him becoming chief minister,” the Congress leader claimed.
Mr Siddarmaiah said that the people would teach a lesson to those practising vindictive politics.
The Congress leader seemed visibly upset with the state government for recently ordering a probe into the alleged irregularities amounting to Rs 921 crore in the Krishi Bhagya scheme when he was chief minister. The objective of the schemes to sustain agriculture round the year in the arid zones of the state and ensure a regular income to cultivators.
