You disappointed me by voting for PM Modi, Siddaramaiah tells Badami

Hubballi: After Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, it is now the turn of co-ordination committee chief, Siddaramaiah to take on the people of the state for voting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the recent Lok Sabha poll despite the “good work” done by the coalition government in Karnataka.

Speaking at a public event during his first visit to his Badami constituency after the elections, the former Chief Minister said he could not understand why the people had backed the BJP when it had done nothing for the state.  

Admitting his disappointment at the saffron party securing a lead of over 9,000 votes in Badami, he said he had hoped the Congress would do well at least in his constituency which had received a grant of Rs 1,300 crore , the highest in its history, for its development from the state government.

“We have built a panchayat building here, are providing free rice to the poor, and milk, uniform and books to the students. We waived farmers' loans and built farm ponds. But what have they (Bharatiya Janata Party) done for the people? Still the voters support them,” he deplored. His criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party did not go without response, however, as a man in the audience objected to it at the function. Visibly irritated, Mr Siddaramaiah asked him if he was a BJP man , but stopped the police from taking action against him.

Interestingly, he took a dig at the coalition government's move to introduce English medium in government schools, wondering how many teachers knew English and where the administration would find them.

Advising people to learn English as a subject and use Kannada as their medium of education, he regretted  it had become a fashion today for parents to admit their children to English medium schools.

Later, speaking to reportrs in Hubballi, Mr Siddaramaiah once again asserted that there was no question of mid-term polls in the state. Reacting sharply to the statement of Janata Dal (Secular) leader, Basavaraj Horatti, that mid-term polls were the best option in the face of the bickering  between the coalition partners , he said some of the Congress leaders only felt that  the party's alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) had contributed to its poor performance in the LS poll in the state.