After defeat, knives out for Siddaramaiah

The knives are out for outgoing chief minister Siddaramaiah, with some of his own partymen launching personal attacks on him and holding him responsible for Congress’ debacle in the assembly polls.

Speaker of the outgoing assembly K B Koliwad, who lost from Ranebennur by 6,000 votes to R Shankar, a candidate from a small party (KPJP), held the CM directly responsible for his defeat.

“Siddaramaiah is not only responsible for my defeat, but also for the defeat of several other candidates. He has ruined the Congress in Karnataka. The party high command should not make the mistake of appointing him state Congress chief, as this would prove suicidal for the party in 2019 Lok Sabha elections,’’ said Koliwad, referring to the CM in singular.

The speaker also alleged that Siddaramaiah intentionally fielded Shankar, a Kuruba, a community to which the CM belongs, against him in Ranebennur and ensured his defeat by not campaigning for him. “I lost to him by a few thousand votes. That MLA has joined the BJP today. It is Siddaramaiah’s crime. His attitude and language are all against the Congress culture,’’ he added.

However, later in the evening, Shankar announced that he was in the JD(S) camp.

Koliwad said Siddaramaiah was an egotist and used the Congress platform to build an image for himself and his cronies. “He does not have even a drop of Congress blood in him. He created animosity between Congress and major communities like the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats and, eventually, the party suffered. The Congress made a mistake of inducting him into the party,’’ he said.

Another defeated candidate, B P Manje Gowda, who resigned as president of state government employees association to contest against former minister and JD(S) leader H D Revanna, also accused Siddaramaiah of backstabbing him.

“He (Siddaramaiah) was the one who forced me to contest against H D Deve Gowda’s son in Hassan, but he failed to campaign for me ahead of polls. Despite my repeated appeals to him to come and campaign for me, he never turned up,’’ alleged Gowda.