Seeking to clear doubts on his future political moves, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday made it clear that he would contest the next Assembly elections and do so from Badami, which he is presently representing.
“I will not run away from elections. I will contest again. Let there be no doubts in this regard in the minds of people,” Mr. Siddaramaiah remarked in the Legislative Assembly.
This came in response to a query by Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri who said there was confusion among people on whether Mr. Siddaramaiah would contest the Assembly elections again. When Revenue Minister R. Ashok sought to know where he was contesting from, Mr. Siddaramaiah first said in lighter vein said that he would pick Padmanabhanagar (which is represented by Mr. Ashok). He later declared that he would stick to Badami.
Mr. Siddaramaiah contested from two constituencies in 2018, Chamundeshwari in Mysuru and Badami in north Karnataka. While he won from Badami, he lost from Chamundeshwari.
Meanwhile, Mr. Siddaramaiah denied allegations that he had ‘sent’ MLAs from the Congress to the BJP, resulting in the fall of the coalition government. This came in response when Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa told Mr. Siddaramaiah in a lighter vein that he had ‘sent’ MLAs to BJP. “My political life is like an open book. I am ready to face facts. I will never stoop down to the level of sending our MLAs to the BJP,” he said. He further added to the CM, “If it is true that I have sent the MLAs to you, then you send them back to me now.”
‘Will you face fresh polls?’
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Monday challenged Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to dissolve the Assembly and face fresh polls if he is confident that his party enjoys the people’s support.
He posed the challenge when the Chief Minister claimed that the State Budget presented by him recently had been received well by the people and that he would win the forthcoming byelections to Assembly and parliamentary seats on the basis of its popularity.
“We know how the bypolls are won. We too have won bypolls while in power. Dissolve the Assembly and face mid-term polls if you are so confident,” he remarked.
