MANDYA: Having seen a total washout of the Congress during the last assembly elections, with the JDS claiming the Vokkaliga heartland, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pulled out the emotional card in Mandya on Monday, pleading with voters not to repeat the mistake. Bring back the Congress and farmers will see better days, he said.
Siddaramaiah, leading the protest against the price rise and 40 per cent commission charge against the BJP government at Silver Jubilee Park, wanted to know why the Congress was rejected in all seven constituencies. “Is it for giving pro-poor and pro-farmers programmes?” he asked, and appealed to people to elect the Congress and put an end to injustice to Dalits and backward communities.
Terming the BJP government corrupt, Siddaramaiah alleged that even rmutts were not spared from the “percentage culture”, and have to shell out 30 per cent funds to get grants. He was referring to Dingaleshwara Swamiji’s charges against the government.
Accusing former minister KS Eshwarappa of being responsible for the death of contractor Santosh Patil, he said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was shielding Eshwarappa, and demanded his arrest. Siddaramaiah did not spare Prime Minister Narendra Modi either, claiming that the “chowkidar” had failed to act on the letter by contractors, alleging 40 per cent commission.
He lashed out at the Modi government for the rising prices of essential commodities, unemployment, increase in debts for the common man. He claimed that the violence in Hubballi was instigated by the BJP to divert people from its administration failures.
He also hit out at the JDS for launching the Janata Jaladare Yatra instead of fighting corruption. He also hit out at CM Basavaraj Bommai for threatening to “expose the shady deals of the Congress before the people.” He questioned why Bommai was silent for the last three years of the BJP rule and why was the BJP silent when it was in the opposition for five years from 2013.