JOIN USSiddu is on his way out: BSY
Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday predicted that the countdown for the fall of Siddaramaiah as the chief minister had begun.
Speaking at a well-attended public meeting at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru after taking charge as the state BJP chief, Yeddyurappa and his senior colleagues remained focused: attack the Siddaramaiah government and devote as much time as possible to discuss the scams involving the chief minister.
Yeddyurappa said Siddaramaiah would find himself in such a situation that it would be impossible for him to continue in office.
He said severals scams involving Siddaramaiah and his government would tumble out in a month’s time. However, he did not mention the nature of the scams.
Yeddyurappa said Siddaramaiah “allowing” his son Dr Yathindra to set up a hi-tech laboratory on the premises of Victoria Hospital in “violation of rules” was just the tip of the iceberg.
Show of unity
It was a show of unity at the public meeting with the BJP leaders, including Ananth Kumar, Jagadish Shettar, R Ashoka and K S Eshwarappa saying that Yeddyurappa would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the 2018 Assembly election. This is Yeddyurappa’s fourth innings as the party president.
Thousands of supporters attended the meeting and a large number of them could not enter the auditorium as it was jam-packed.
Yeddyurappa said a lot of ground had to be covered to achieve the set target of winning 150 seats in the 2018 polls and make Karnataka a Congress-free state.
“Today, we have only 47 MLAs. In nine districts, we have no representatives. In 13 districts, we have only one legislator each. My target is to concentrate where we are weak. We cannot afford to be lazy as we have only two years left,” he said.
Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar said the party would tirelessly work for the next 700 days to ensure the BJP gets a record majority.
“Today we have a divided Congress and a united BJP under Yeddyurappa,” Ananth Kumar said, expressing confidence that it was a matter of time before the party came back to power.
He said the immediate task before the new state leadership would be to pressure the government in ensuring relief work is taken up in the 136 drought-hit taluks in the state.
“We have to be with the people 24/7 and make our presence felt in all the 224 Assembly constituencies,” he said. Former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa said the BJP would bring in a stringent anti-cow slaughter legislation if it came to power.