Bengaluru: Rising to the defence of former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, who recently declared that he would become CM again if the people so desired, Revenue Minister, R.V. Deshpande insisted on Friday that the statement did not mean he was readying to destablise the Kumaraswamy government. “I have known Siddaramaiah for 30 years and he has never resorted to backdoor politics or any kind of dissident activity,” Mr. Deshpande told reporters when asked about the former Chief Minister’s statement made during his visit to inspect the floods in Hassan.
He continued, “We were confident before the assembly polls that Siddaramaiah would become Chief Minister again, but then the party lost the elections. There is nothing wrong in him saying he will become Chief Minister again. It doesn’t mean he plans to unsettle the Kumaraswamy government to accomplish his goal.” Disagreeing with Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. G. Parameshwara, who recently hit out at the Centre for not helping the state with the Kodagu floods , Mr Deshpande said it was wrong to make such an accusation against the Union government.
“It is not right to say that the Centre has not responded to the crisis. In fact , Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has sent army personnel to Kodagu to rescue the flood victims and visited the district herself. The Centre has helped in other ways too,” he observed, adding that the state government had asked the deputy commissioners, of Kodagu, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada and Chikkamagaluru to send a detailed report on the loss of crops and livestock due to the floods.
