BENGALURU: Co-ordination committee chairman and former chief minister Siddaramaiah appears to be still upset about not being made Chief Minister for the second term in a row. He now feels that it was the ‘jealousy’ of some leaders that turned out to be detrimental to his aspirations in 2018, denying him the CM’s post despite having a good chance to being re-elected.
On Saturday, Siddaramaiah expressed his reservations over his role as co-ordination committee chief at a ‘Women’s Awareness Convention’ organised by Karnataka Ahalyabai Holkar Sangha and Pradesha Kurubara Sangha. In an indirect dig at his own party members, he said that there was no medicine for jealousy. Playing the backward community card, he said that development of members of such communities are not tolerated. “Due to this jealousy, even though there was a chance for me to become CM (after elections), I was kept away from the post,” he said.
Siddaramaiah’s remarks that he aspired to be CM for the second term had raised a controversy in August this year. He had alleged that he could not get post after his adversaries ‘ganged up’ against him in 2018. Soon after the issue had prompted a response from Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, he had clarified that he aspired to become CM after the next assembly polls if people blessed him.