MYSURU: Irked by former CM H D Kumaraswamy’s charge that he had played a role in the collapse of the Congress-JDS coalition government, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah accused the former of running the government from a star hotel, and not taking MLAs into confidence.“If I had plans of pulling down the Kumaraswamy government, I would not give my consent to make him CM as the JDS had just 38 MLAs,” Siddaramaiah said at a Congress workers’ meet here on Friday.
He accused Kumaraswamy of being inaccessible to ministers and failing to listen to their grievances, and felt that the government would not have collapsed if he had reciprocated. Claiming that 14 party MLAs would not have left if the Congress had not supported the JDS, he hit out at Kumaraswamy for joining hands with the BJP after enjoying power with the support of the Congress.
Accusing the BJP government of being against social justice, Siddaramaiah said instead of accepting the caste-based socio-economic report to roll out constitutional benefits to the deserving, leaders are busy announcing caste-based corporations. The Ahinda leader said the special component funds for SCs and STs had been reduced to `21,000 crore from `36,000 crore, and was sure that Dalits would not vote for the BJP.
Criticising the anti-cow bill, Siddaramaiah claimed he would not hesitate to eat beef as it is his personal choice. He accused the government of misgovernance, saying that CM B S Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra had indulged in corruption, and accepted money through cheque and RTGS. The government had reduced rice for the poor from 7kg to 5kg, and was conspiring to shut down APMCs in the next five years, he added.