Asserting that Congress is fully geared up to face the Assembly elections in the State, Chairman of State Congress Campaign Committee, Siddaramaiah on Saturday announced that constituency-wise campaigning would commence from the first week of  April.

Participating in ‘Meet the Press’ programme jointly organised by the Press Club, Bangalore and the Bangalore Reporters Guild, Siddaramaiah strongly refuted the allegation that his party wanted the elections to be postponed.

“This is a blatant lie spread by the BJP. We only demanded the correction of voters’ list. Even now we are not satisfied with the voters’ list; but we have decided to face the elections”, he added.

He was also confident that the Congress would gain an absolute majority to form the government on its own.

No CM candidate

He also reiterated that Congress would stick to its avowed policy of not projecting any leader as a chief ministerial candidate.

He also added that BJP’s decision to project B S Yeddyurappa as their chief ministerial candidate was a disadvantage because B S Yeddyurappa had been a failure as the Finance Minister.

Accusing Yeddyurappa of messing up state finance which was on a sound track when he demitted office, Siddaramaiah argued that but for the steep rise in excise revenue following the arrack banning, the economy would have been in doldrums today.

When asked about his tolerance for the ‘feudal culture’ of the Congress, considering he had accused Deve Gowda for perpetrating ‘family rule’, Siddaramaiah shot back saying “Don’t compare the Deve Gowda family with the Nehru family. Deve Gowda could not practice selfish politics when leaders like Hegde, Bommai were around, which he started when he became the party president. This necessitated our quitting from the party”.

Siddaramaiah did not agree with the view expressed by a reporter that he has been reduced to Kuruba leader from a backward class leader.  “I will try to become a leader for all communities”, he added.