Siddaramaiah defends denial of ticket to Dayananda Reddy

MLC did not participate in party activities, says CM

 Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said Dayananda Reddy was denied a Congress ticket to contest the upcoming Council polls as he had not involved in party activities despite becoming the party MLC in the last elections.

Addressing the representatives of the party in the local bodies in the Bengaluru Urban district, Siddaramaiah said, “M Narayanswamy is the official nominee of the party for the Bengaluru Urban local bodies constituency. Those who oppose it are not loyal to the party.”
The chief minister said the Congress was committed to decentralising administration. But the BJP does not have such commitment.

The Panchayat Raj Act has been amended to sanction more powers to gram panchayats.
If the BJP candidates are voted to power in the Council, it amounts to opposing the decentralisation of administration, he said.

State Congress president G Parameshwara said the elections were very important for the Congress as the party was not numerically strong in the House.

The Congress requires a majority in the Council for the government to get its bills passed. There were times when the Congress had won 23 seats of the 25 seats in the Council. This time, 20 seats would be won by the party, he said.

Parameshwara too defended the party denying ticket to Dayananda Reddy.
He did not adhere to party discipline and he had to be expelled, he said.
Narayanaswamy, who was on the dais, sought the votes of the elected representatives.