SHIVAMOGGA:“Contrary to what the media has been reporting, Vinay is not my personal assistant. I don’t have any relationship with him. So, in future, the media should stop publishing or airing reports saying Vinay is my personal assistant,” said Opposition Leader in the Legislative Council K S Eshwarappa.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Eshwarappa said he has already filed a petition at the Bengaluru Civil Court, which has restricted print and electronic media from publishing news that Vinay is his PA. There are media reports about BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa’s PA Santosh and Eshwarappa’s PA Vinay. For the dispute between those two, the names of Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa are unnecessarily being dragged into this issue. As the court has already given direction not publish the news in that manner, no media should publish as such, he said.
On CM Siddaramaiah criticising Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa said Siddaramaiah might have realised that his term would end soon. So, he is talking about Yeddyurappa as a lay man. It is condemnable that Siddaramaiah is criticising and talking about Yeddyurappa, who is a Lok Sabha member, BJP state president and even former chief minister, without the least respect.
On the government, Eshwarappa said Madhugiri MLA K N Rajanna and Hampi University Vice Chancellor Dr Mallika Ghanti have exposed what the government is. Unfortunately, Health Minister Ramesh Kumar has justified their allegations, which itself proved that Congress is a party of thieves, he said.Eshwarappa said some vested interests have been spreading rumours that Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa, C T Ravi and other leaders of the BJP would contest from different constituencies. Unfortunately, the media has become the Congress high command, observers and state president. So, whatever they want, they either publish or telecast, he said.
“I am unaware from which constituency Yeddyurappa is going to contest in the next election. But I would not contest from anywhere other than Shivamogga. Even other leaders would not contest in constituencies that appeared in the media. The news that the supporters of Eshwarappa were not invited for Booth Management Committee meeting is not true. There are no factions here. There is only one faction which is BJP”, he added.On MLC election, Eshwarappa said the BJP has already completed one round of campaigning. In Congress, a person is a candidate. But in BJP, the entire party is a candidate. So, the party would go campaigning in a systematic way, he said.