I will be CM for 5 years, asserts Siddu

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday rebutted the Opposition charges that he has favoured those who were with him in the erstwhile Janata Parivar while forming the council of ministers and expressed confidence that he will complete the five-year term as the chief minister.

“I will be the chief minister for five years. I have no doubts about it. The Congress high command is strong. Moreover, we are all united in the party,” he stated while replying to the discussion on motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the Legislative Assembly.

Siddaramaiah made use of the forum to clarify that he has not favoured those loyal to him and those who have their roots in the Janata Parivar and sidelined the loyal Congress workers while forming the council of ministers. Though the chief minister said he was clarifying to JD-S’ Y S V Datta in this regard, he was indirectly aiming at his critics within the Congress.

“I am a 100 per cent Congressman. If one were to look into the roots, all politicians, including H D Deve Gowda, are from the Congress party. We are all committed to the ideology of the party and Sonia Gandhi is our leader. Datta's statement is only aimed at dividing the party leaders,” he stated.

Datta had ridiculed the government saying “it was the Janata Parivar cabinet in the Congress government.” KJP leader B S Yeddyurappa had predicted that Siddaramaiah will be forced to step down as the chief minister in one year due to internal bickerings in the Congress. Siddaramaiah defended his move to announce a number of popular schemes on the day of taking oath as the chief minister, saying that all these programmes were already announced in the party's election manifesto. “The Congress always takes the manifesto seriously. The manifesto was prepared by senior leaders. It is not the manifesto of Siddaramaiah,” he stated.

The chief minister's announcement of popular schemes even before the formation of council of ministers, had raised eye brows in the party.

He strongly defended the reference to corruption related to previous governments in the Governor's speech, saying that he wants to re-instill confidence among the people in the system. The new government will provide a clean and corruption-free administration in the next five years, he added.

He also said his government will make efforts to conduct the Legislature session for at least 60 days in a year, as per the rule book.

Cauvery

Siddaramaiah brushed aside the Opposition demand to amend the Governor's speech pertaining to implementation of irrigation projects in the Cauvery basin and said the statement will not have any bearing on the legal battle the State is waging on the Cauvery river water sharing issue with Tamil Nadu.

He said the government has consulted Supreme Court advocate Fali S Nariman in this regard and that there is no need to amend a particular statement in the speech. It was stated in the speech that irrigation projects in the Cauvery basin will be implemented in conformity with the final award of Cauvery river water dispute tribunal. The JD(S), then, staged a walkout, protesting the government's stand.