Kalaburagi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday rejected the challenge from state BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa to contest from one of the constituencies in the North Karnataka region in the coming Assembly election as he (Yeddyurappa) intended to do.
During an interaction with the media at the helipad here, Mr Siddaramaiah retorted, "there is no need for me to contest from the North Karnataka (NK) region as my constituency has already been identified".
"Mr Yeddyurappa wants to shift to the N-K region as he wants to field his son from his home constituency, Shikaripur. How does it matter from where he contests? Let him contest from wherever he wants", he quipped.
Mr Siddaramaiah was here to pay homage to senior Congress leader Qamarul Islam, who passed away due to cardiac arrest, on Monday. He was accompanied by AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, KPCC President Dr G Parameshwar and senior Leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
The CM did not agree with the view that the BJP would benefit from the predominant Lingayat votes if Mr Yeddyurappa contested from the N-K region. "I don't quite think so", he added.
Mr Siddaramaiah also expressed his ire over the remark by Leader of the Opposition in the Council K S Eshwarappa that he was responsible for the infighting among the Lingayats. "He (Mr Eshwarappa) has no brains. He utters nonsense", he remarked.
The CM dismissed the allegation by BJP leaders that his government was indulging in telephone tapping of Opposition leaders. "On the contrary it's the BJP government at the Centre which is tapping our phones and misusing powers by ordering Income Tax and CBI raids on Congress leaders," he replied.
