Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Aug 20: "I was defeated in Chamundeshwari constituency due to the false propaganda about me that I play religious politics," said disgruntled former chief minister (CM) Siddaramaiah.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 'Pratibha Puraskara' programme organized by Karnataka Pradesh Kurubara Sangha in the city on Sunday, August 19.

Continuing his address, Siddaramaiah said, "I have brought several projects when I was the CM keeping in mind the needs of people of all communities and castes. I managed the administration of the state without favouring any particular caste. I am neither against Dalits nor Hindus. I am also a Hindu. I love everyone,”

Siddaramaiah condemned the statement given by MLC Raghunath Malkapure in which he accused the former CM and said, "If Siddaramaiah is given an opportunity, he will take a delegation to the Prime Minister asking him to include the Kuruba community to scheduled tribe category,"

Taking on Raghunath's statement, Siddaramaiah said, "It is practically impossible to add Kuruba community to the scheduled tribe category. This does not mean that I am against the tribe. I am for the social justice of all the tribes of people,"

"It is not right to give wrong information to the public with regards to this issue. However, the reservation could have been increased. If I was the CM this time also, I would have taken a decision on increasing the reservation,"

Taunting at H Vishwanath, state president of JD (S), Siddaramaiah, said "Some people go around saying that I only brought Siddaramaiah to the Congress party. I was brought to the Congress party by Ahmed Patel. Others in Congress welcomed me only after I joined the party. There is a limit for lying. There will not be any political mileage because of these kinds of statements. These kinds of statements are given to malign me in the eyes of the public."