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Siddaramaiah bares his anguish on HD Kumaraswamy

Video of ex-CM talking to aides goes viral.

Mangaluru: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah is back in the news after moving to a nature cure centre in Dharmasthala soon after the JD(S)-Congress coalition government got a full fledged cabinet. A video clipping has now surfaced where he is seen expressing his unhappiness over CM H.D. Kumaraswamy's move to table a fresh budget when he has already tabled one before the Assembly polls. He has also objected to some Congress MLAs lobbying for cabinet berths and holding meetings.

The former CM is now at Sri Dharmastala Manjunatheshwara Yoga and Nature Cure Hospital with his activity and food controlled by the centre. This has however not stopped him from keeping himself updated on political developments in the state.

The controversial video was recorded when Siddaramaiah met Congress MLAs S.T. Somashekhar, Bairati Basavaraj, Muniratna and others and went public after a private TV channel telecast it on Sunday. The clipping which was uploaded on YouTube, has gone viral on social media too. Here are excerpts of the interaction between Siddaramaiah and Congress leaders:

Siddaramaiah: It seems the budget will be tabled and they will go to Rahul Gandhi and get the green signal. (DCM) Parameshwar too says it is natural for a new government to table the budget.

Congress leader: As you said, they could have tabled a supplementary budget.

Siddaramaiah: If a single party had come to power, then they can go ahead and table a new budget and we cannot have any objection. But he (Kumaraswamy) became CM with our support. The Congress has already tabled the (last) budget.

A bit of common sense has to be applied. If (the government) continues next year, they could have passed a new budget next year. Even before the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) is set, the budget preparation has started.

Supporter: When you said no to the budget, they should not table the budget.
(Siddaramaiah also expressed unhappiness over some MLAs who were unable to make it to the cabinet holding meetings with their supporters. The former Chief Minister feels it could annoy party president Rahul Gandhi who had approved the names for the cabinet of the coalition government)

Supporter: Dr Sudhakar, M.B. Patil (had called a meeting)

Siddaramaiah: What did they say?

Supporter: They invited all for the meeting.

Siddaramaiah: Why did they call the meeting?

Supporter: To demand they be made ministers.

Siddaramaiah: Will they be made ministers if they hold a meeting? They will lose even if there was any chance. It is the list approved by party president Rahul Gandhi. If they don't agree then it is like going against Rahul Gandhi. Isn't it?

Supporter: Yes

Siddaramaiah: Who is Rahul Gandhi in the party? The supreme leader. How if somebody goes against him? Expressing unhapiness (for not getting a ministry) is different but holding a meeting is wrong.

Supporter: No Sir, the meeting has not been held till today. They had just invited.

Siddaramaiah: They held one meeting, isn’t it?

Supporter: No Sir

Siddaramaiah: Didn’t they have a meeting in MB Patil's residence?

Somashekhar: No. It was just a showoff (no meeting was held).

Siddaramaiah: Is it?

Supporter: M.B. Patil had called a meeting. We didn't go. Sudhakar wanted to hold a meeting at Shangrila Hotel. (Siddaramaiah discussed rumours about Deve Gowda planning to contest from Mandya in the next Parlaiment election.)

Siddaramaiah: It seems he (Deve Gowda) wants to contest from Mandya and give his (present) seat to his grandson. They are showing it on the Television. (The group also had a discussion on farm loan waiver.)

Siddaramaiah: They could have helped farmers in other ways. We have a project where a dryland farmer gets Rs 10,000. They could have extended it. It would have helped many.

Supporter: Sir, there are examples where somebody commits suicide and it is dubbed a farmer suicide (due to loan). If we speak, then there would be a protest against us by farmer organisations.

Siddaramaiah: I too come from a village. In our village nobody has died after taking a loan.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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