BS Yediyurappa govt won’t last more than a year: Siddaramaiah

Hubballi: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed on Monday that the BJP government in the state would not survive for more than a year and said he had advised his party workers to get ready for mid-term elections.

"I have told Congress leaders to focus on strengthening the party as we could have mid-term polls any time in the state. People have no confidence in the stability of the BJP government as Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has come to power through the backdoor through horse-trading without a clear mandate for his party. How long will this government  survive with 105 legislators and with the help of Congress and JD(S) rebels?" he asked, speaking to reporters here.

Denying charges that he had backed his loyal legislators to turn rebel and bring down the last coalition government in the state, he wanted to know why JD(S) legislators including Mr A H Vishwanath and Mr Narayanagowda too had quit their party to back the BJP.

Lambasting Janata Dal (S) supremo, H D  Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy for blaming him for the collapse of the government, he said it had fallen as both the Congress and JD(S) had failed to take their legislators into confidence. "They (the JDS) have hatched a conspiracy against me to gain political mileage," he charged.

Moving on to the recent floods,Mr Siddaramaiah accused Mr Yediyurappa of failing to come to the rescue of those affected and hit out at the Union government for not releasing the relief funds required to help the people even 20 days after the disaster.

"Mr Yediyurappa has been visiting New Delhi instead of resolving the problems of the flood victims and has been quoting different figures about the total  loss. The Centre should release a compensation package immediately," he added.