BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s declaration that he will be chief minister for the remaining three-and-half years, during his campaign in Sandur on Thursday, has created a ripple in political circles. His statement has been interpreted in many ways whether he is unlikely to resign, come what may, or whether it is part of a strategy to polarise AHINDA voters, especially Kurubas, in the November 13 bypolls to Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon assembly constituencies.
Siddaramaiah has focused more on Sandur (ST seat), where the stakes are high as it is a AHINDA dominated seat. Comparatively, in Shiggaon, he had passed buck to the party high command on choice of candidate, which was Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan.
In Channapatna, it is Deputy CM DK Shivakumar who is playing a high-stakes game where Vokkaligas call the shots. “Siddaramaiah being an accused in the MUDA scam, is patting his own back to instil confidence in Congress legislators that he will continue as CM.
But the truth is he himself, DCM DK Shivakumar and AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge know when he is going to resign, which is imminent,” said BJP state president B Y Vijayendra. It is to encash votes of some communities that Siddaramaiah has claimed he will continue as CM, he added. He predicted that BJP will win Shiggaon hands down.
“Congress was under the illusion that it would win Channapatna and Sandur, but those seats are also slipping out of their hands. So Siddaramaiah has camped in Sandur keeping aside his other work,” he said. “He is such a great man that he has said he was CM, he is the present CM and will be the CM,” taunted former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.