Knives out for Siddaramaiah; Koliwad, others blame him for defeat

Bengaluru: The knives are out for outgoing chief minister Siddaramaiah. Having lost the elections fought under his leadership and his Chamundeshwari seat, he is now the target of many a Congress leader, former Speaker, K.B. Koliwad and Bagur Manje Gowda being among them.

Mr Koliwad on Wednesday not only held Mr Siddaramaiah responsible for the Congress’ debacle, but also suggested that he should not be given any post, including that of KPCC president as punishment.

Addressing Mr Siddaramaiah in the singular Mr Koliwad said, “Both the JD(S) and Congress should work together to form the government. But this man, Mr Siddaramaiah will not let that happen. He will somehow prevent Mr Kumaraswamy from becoming the chief minister.”

Noting that “this man” had “lost one seat and won the Badami seat by a thin margin”, he added, “I will personally meet AICC president Rahul Gandhi and convince him not to give any post to Mr Siddaramaiah.”

Mr Koliwad, who was defeated by a nondescript candidate, R. Shankar of the Karnataka Praja Janata Party, claimed Mr Siddaramaiah had helped his rival win.

“He is 15 years younger than I am. He is a bachha (kid) in front of me and has no Congress blood in him like I have,” he said, referring to Mr Siddaramaiah. Alleging that the Lingayat religion issue had cost the party dearly, he said it was all the outgoing chief minister’s doing. “The party will not benefit from this man. It is better D.K. Shivakumar is made the chief minister,” he added.

Meanwhile, Manje Gowda, who lost to H.D. Revanna of the JD(S) in Holenarsipur, also blamed Mr Siddaramaiah for his defeat.

“If Mr Siddaramaiah had come to campaign for me, I would have won. Unfortunately, he did not. I do not know who brought pressure on him to force me to contest the elections,” he said.