CM blames senior Cong leaders for BBMP poll defeat

Putting up a brave front on the Congress debacle in the recently held Bhrahut Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) elections, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday reportedly blamed senior leaders for party’s poor show in the civic body polls.

Siddaramaiah, who met party national president Sonia Gandhi, is learnt to have said that the statements made by a section of leaders during the poll campaign created confusion among voters, as well as party candidates, leading to the party’s debacle.

Pointing out that in 27 wards, the party candidates lost by a narrow margin of less than a 1,000 votes, the chief minister said that if all the leaders had put up a united fight, the party would have fared much better.

It was learnt that Sonia was not happy with the outcome of the poll results as it was the first major elections the party faced, after coming to power.

Explaining the reasons for tying up with the JD(S) for the mayoral elections, Siddaramaiah reportedly said that it was done to keep the BJP away from power.

On the murder of writer Dr M M Kalburgi, the chief minister said the government was taking steps to arrest those responsible for it.