I'll remain in Cong till my death: Siddu

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appears to have finally found his political home in the Congress. And in his own words, he will remain in the grand old party till his death.

At the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah engaged in a war of words with Opposition leader K S Eshwarappa over his past, present and future.

During the discussion on the budget, Eshwarappa taunted Siddaramaiah by suggesting that there were chances he would discard the Congress and join another party. Siddaramaiah retorted: “Many times you and others have called me a partyhopper.

I started my career with the Samajwadi Janata Party. Later, the party merged with the Janata Party. I was there till 2006-07, following which I was removed from the party (Janata Dal-S). I was expelled. With my personal stand on social equality, the only other party I believed in was the Congress. I tell you this today, categorically... I shall remain in the Congress till the day I die.”

A visibly irate chief minister was further taunted by the JD(S) MLCs who said he had left the party on his own. “Most of you MLCs do not know anything. Who removed me from the deputy chief minister’s post? They dismissed me,” said Siddaramaiah, hinting at H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy being the reason for his shortlived tenure as deputy chief minister.