Whether we win or lose, party will be responsible, says CM Siddaramaiah

Mysuru: While asserting that the Congress would win all three assembly by-elections and the Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat polls, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Saturday refused to take personal responsibility for the party’s performance in either.

Whether the party won or lost it would be its collective responsibility, he told reporters on arrival at the Udbur helipad in Nanjangud taluk here on Saturday.

Mr Siddaramaiah, who is here to campaign for the second phase of the panchayat elections in his home district of Mysuru , was also careful to say that a victory in these polls here was not a matter of prestige, once again distancing himself from the outcome.

He however asserted that the party was making a “sincere effort to win, ” and to emphasise his point further, added, “I am sure the Congress will win in Mysuru on its own strength.”

Speaking in Hullalli later, he claimed the BJP did not have any right to seek votes as it did not believe in decentralisation of power. “It was Rajiv Gandhi who brought in the 73rd amendment to strengthen gram panchayats, and P V Narasimha Rao who implemented it,” he told the people.

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to bring back black money stashed abroad within 100 days of his government as promised, he said so far not a single rupee had been recovered.

“Narendra Modi has never spoken about the problems of the poor or farmers in man ki baath, and has not waived off loans of farmers even after so many of them committed suicide in the state.

But we have fulfilled over 100 of our 165 promises made in the party manifestation. We are giving interest- free loans of upto Rs 3 lakh to farmers and have given upto Rs 10,000 crore in such loans to 23 lakh farmers this financial year.

As many as 1.8 crore people have been given BPL cards,” he added, reeling off his government’s achievements.