BENGALURU: BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa has claimed that denotification cases against him pending in court would not be a deciding factor in the coming elections. At a ‘Meet the Press’ event on Saturday, Yeddyurappa said all the Chief Ministers had denotified land during their tenures.
“There are only two cases pending against me in the court. I have been cleared of all charges in other cases. I don’t think charges of corruption against me will be an issue with the public in the coming Assembly elections,” he said. Saying he would seek votes in the name of development, he said it was not corruption charges against him, but corruption of the Siddaramaiah government that would aid him in becoming Chief Minister again.
Yeddyurappa also promised to bring Chief Ministers of Goa and Maharashtra to the negotiation table on the Kalasa-Banduri issue. Recently, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had once again written to the two CMs to set a date for talks on the issue. Yeddyurappa said that if Siddaramaiah convinced the Congress party which is the Opposition in both the states, then he would take the responsibility of convincing both the CMs to have talks on the issue.
Yeddyurappa, who is clearly elated with BJP national president Amit Shah’s statement that he would be the CM candidate, said it proved that age was no bar and implying that he had been exempted from the BJP rule that imposed a ban on people over 75 years of age being involved in active politics.
The Shivamogga MP also said there was an overwhelming demand from people for him to contest from the Shikaripura seat which is at present occupied by his son B Y Raghavendra.
“I have to respect people’s wishes. I will discuss with party seniors about allotting another constituency for Raghavendra to contest and then take a call on what we should do,” he said.