Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Feb 14: "I do not have any personal enmity with chief minister Yediyurapppa. I would like to convey this to the Veerashaiva community. But looting was going on in Yediyurappa's government. I raised my voice when the resources of the state were being looted. It was JD(S), which first raised its voice against the corrupt governance of BJP. We took documents in two suitcases to the Vidhana Soudha and made them public," said former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy was speaking at the JD(S) convention that was held at the Palace Grounds of the city.

He further said, "Siddaramaiah had spoken about the cases that were filed against Yediyurappa in the Vidhana Soudha. Yediyurappa had raked up Rado scam of Siddaramaiah. This shut Siddaramiah's mouth. This is their politics."

Speaking on the protest for reservations in the state, Kumaraswamy said, "I do not know how many more protests demanding reservations will be held in the state. Savitha community is also going to start their demand. Uppara community is also placing their demand. Similarly all other communities will start their fight."

He announced that his party would be fielding candidates for the by-elections in three constituencies. "In the by-elections, JD(S) candidates will be fielded in three constituencies. At Maski our strength is low. We will field JD(S) candidate in Sindhagi. We might be having financial crunch in our party. Party has to survive even at the cost of taking loans. Deve Gowda has given one suggestion. We will go according to his long life. We will not be underdogs to any party," clarified Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy futher said, "We did not get cooperation from Congress in the coalition government. Even then we fulfilled the promise of waiver of loans. Many criticised about the functioning of the coalition government. We brought several schemes in the coaltion government. Our government was not limited only to waiver of loans. We gave crop transportation charges to the farmers. We made arrangements to store the crop of farmers in godowns. We introduced Gruhalaxmi loan scheme at just 3% interest. We also introdcued Badavara Bandhu scheme.

"We opened Karnataka public schools for the first time. Now there is friction between BJP government and schools due to coronavirus pandemic. We started 1,000 public schools for the sake of poor children. It is difficult for the poor people to get their children educated in private schools. That is why we brought public school project from the government itself. But the BJP government did not continue public schools. This scheme is deliberately stopped," he said.

"Deve Gowda has concern towards the farmers even now. It cannot be taken away by any person or political party. JD(S) is the party which brought greenery to north Karnatka. PM Modi has lauded the efforts of former PM Deve Gowda. Six and half crore Kannadigas should understand this," he added.