From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Channapatna, Nov 11: In the final push for the Congress candidate in Channaptana before the close of electioneering, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday declared that C P Yogeshwar’s victory is “as certain as the Sunrise in the East” and taunted JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda that his feudal mentality will not work.
Addressing the Congress campaign meeting at Channapatna, the Chief Minister lauded the achievements of Yogeshwar, who had won from the assembly constituency five times under different party symbol, and said his victory would not have been possible without the support of the people because of the developmental works carried out by him.
Siddaramaiah predicted that Deve Gowda’s grandson and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy would definitely complete the “hat-trick of losses” after the defeat in Mandya in 2019 and Ramanagara in 2023.
The Chief Minister, who had been in JDS before joining Congress and holding his post twice, said both Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy had “never allowed the rise and growth of any Vokkaliga.”
“The future of Vokkaliga leaders from Y K Ramaiah, K N Nage Gowda, B N Bacche Gowda, Varade Gowda, Puttanna, N Cheluvarayaswamy, Balakrishna, C R Byre Gowda, K R Pet Chandrashekar and several others was destroyed,” he said alleging that the father and son duo are preventing the rise of Vokkaligas in the State.
Siddaramaiah said he has already warned JDS leader G T Deve Gowda to quit the party and come out if he does not want his future to be destroyed. “Congress leader B L Shankar and Y K Ramaiah, who were very close to Deve Gowda, were finished. They are doing their best to destroy Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh,” he said pointing out that Yogeshwar is being sought to be destroyed and he was forced to quit BJP to join Congress.
The Chief Minister reminded the former prime minister of his criticism of prime minister Narendra Modi as the “biggest liar” and had warned that he would leave the country if Modi became prime minister. “Now he is praising Modi left and right. Does his words have any value?” he asked.
He also claimed that Deve Gowda would not have become the Chief Minister in 1994 but for the efforts of R L Jalappa and himself. “Former Chief Minister and JDU national leader S R Bommai was unwilling to make Deve Gowda as the party’s national president. But all of us stood behind Deve Gowda to support him,” he said and attacked the JDS supremo for describing him as “arrogant.”
Slamming Deve Gowda for electioneering for his grandson for a whole week, the Chief Minister demanded to know if he would campaigned if Yogeshwar was NDA candidate or if BJP and JDS had fielded any other candidate.
He asked Deve Gowda, who became accidental Prime Minister, to explain his contribution for the development of Channapatna and not by shedding crocodile tears.
“When I became Chief Minister for the first time, I had launched several Bhagya schemes and in my present term, we have implemented the Congress party’s electoral promises of guarantees,” he said and wanted to know how Deve Gowda could criticise him.
“It is the Congress which established the Milk powder unit at Kanakapura at a cost of Rs 400 core and a diary complex at a cost of Rs 700 crore. The list is too big. Has Deve Gowda or Kumaraswamy done any single project?” he asked.
The Chief Minister declared that the Congress guarantees will be continued and dismissed Deve Gowda’s charge that the Gruhalakshmi guarantee of Rs 2000 monthly payment to women will be stopped after the by-elections as “utter lies.” Both the BJP and JDS are fooling people on the Wakf issue, he claimed.