Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Oct 4: Former chief minister SIddaramaiah on Sunday October 4 hit out at the JD(S) and said that the party habitually piggyback rides on the shoulders of other political parties to grab power, and that he believes JD(S) is not a political party at all.

"JD(S) uses the shoulder of other parties to get hold of power. The party never attains power to rule on its own. According to me JD(S) is not a political party at all. Kumaraswamy used to shed tears in Sira a few days ago. One should say that he will serve the people and seek votes. Instead of that why one should cry while speaking? Kumaraswamy is like this from earlier days also."

He was speaking at the induction ceremony of Kusuma, wife of the late IAS offier D K Ravi, who officially joined the Congress at the KPCC office in the presence of KPCC president D K Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and former deputy chief minister Dr G Parameshwar on Sunday.

"Sira by-election is being held due to the untimely death of JD(S) MLA Sathyanarayana. During the last assembly election T B Jayachandra was our candidate. However, he came second in the elections. In the last assembly elections, the people of Karnataka did not give clear mandate to any political party. Hence we formed coalition government with JD(S) and made Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. But Kumaraswamy could not save the government."

Attacking chief minister Yediyurappa, Siddaramaiah said, "Yediyurappa spent hundreds of crores in his greed to hold on to power. He gave Rs 25 crore to each MLA and made them resign from the coalition parties and formed his government. He enticed the MLAs with the promise of money and power. Muniratna was the one who had resigned during that time and joined BJP. There was no MLA for RR Nagar for one year. Now the by-election has been declared."

D K Shivakumar said, "We will recommend the list of candidates to the Congress high command in Delhi for the upcoming by-elections. We will not issue any tickets from state. Our high command will declare the name of the candidates. Today more than 100 leaders have joined the Congress party. Thousands of their supporters will also join the Congress. Their entry into the Congress has strengthened the party further.

"Our party does not see whether the person is old or new party member. All are given equal tasks for organizing the party. Whoever works for the party will be given suitable position in local bodies. All those who agree with our ideology have the opportunity to join our party," he said.