Karnataka: Siddaramaiah to BJP - You talk of buying votes?
Siddu slams BJP for injecting corruption into politics through Operation Kamala, attacks saffronists on choice of UP CM.
Bengaluru: Dismissing senior BJP leader, K.S. Eshwarappa's claim that the Congress was paying people Rs 4000 each for their votes in the coming bypolls, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is here for campaigning, demanded to know what proof he had.
"It was the BJP, which injected corruption in elections through its Operation Kamala in the past. What moral right does it now have to say this? We will never stoop to such a level. We are only banking on our developmental work to win votes," he asserted, speaking to reporters on Friday.
As for Mr Eshwarappa advising voters to take money from the Congress , but vote for the BJP, he remarked caustically, "this shows how they think." He also strongly denied BJP state chief, B. S Yeddyurappa's charge that his government was misusing the administrative machinery for the elections. While claiming that the bypolls were not a referendum on his government, he, however, acknowledged they could indicate how much the people had accepted its work of the last four years.
Asked about the BJP's claim that he was only making false promises about increasing reservation for backward classes, he said, " My statement was wrongly reported. I only said that reservation should be increased in proportion to the population of a community. We will discuss this with experts and honestly try to implement it. It's a commitment."
On the charge by Mr Srinivasprasad, who left the Congress to contest from Nanjangud on a BJP ticket, that he was out to finish Dalit leaders, Mr Siddaramaiah shot back, "Are Dr G Parameshwar, Anjaneya and Dr H C Mahadevappa not Dalits? His allegations are baseless."
The Chief Minister, who is in Mysuru for seven days starting Friday to campaign for the Nanjangud and Gundlupet bypolls, also warned about the dangers of communalism as he visited 19 villages in Nanjangud. "A candidate from a communal party must not be elected," he asserted, adding the BJP's "hidden agenda" was exposed by its choice of Chief Minister for Uttar Pradesh.
He was referring to the selection of Yogi Adityanath as UP Chief Minister and how the measures launched by the new BJP government in that state were creating a divide in society by allegedly targeting the minorities.