HDK dares Siddaramaiah to announce a Dalit CM nominee

JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday dared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to announce a Dalit chief ministerial candidate.

Addressing the reporters after presiding over the booth level committee observers' meeting in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy said that the JD(S) had already announced that the party, if it came to power, would make a Dalit leader the deputy chief minister.

Siddaramaiah, however, was busy promoting himself as the next chief minister, he said, adding that the former had no interest in the welfare of the community.

Kumaraswamy said that Siddaramaiah had ensured the downfall of many JD(S) leaders when he was in that party, and had done the same after he joined the Congress. As a result, senior Dalit leaders such as Mallikarjun Kharge and G Parameshwara had been completely sidelined by the Congress.

He also charged that Siddaramaiah and his close aides were involved in several scams, all of which would be soon revealed by the Congress leaders themselves.

Kumaraswamy also accused Siddaramaiah of having struck a "deal" with the BJP leaders and indirectly effected 'Operation Lotus' in the past.

Mahadayi dispute

Kumaraswmay also took a dig at BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa for taking up the Mahadayi water dispute issue at this juncture. "Yeddyurappa is only doing this because the elections are nearing, and he is desperate to save the party -- he is on a damage control mode. Going by Yeddyurappa's confidence, it looks like Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given him the assurance of intervention in the matter. The dispute can only be resolved by the prime minister," he added.

Yeddyurappa recently announced that he will help resolve the Mahadayi issue through an out-of-tribunal settlement in a less than a month.

He said that the JD(S) would announce its candidate list by the end of the month.

He reiterated that his nephew Prajwal Revanna will not be given a ticket to contest from Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency in Bengaluru in the upcoming polls.

"The party will field a local from the constituency. There are seven to eight aspirants -- but, Prajwal will not be fielded," he said, adding that the party supremo H D Deve Gowda had already clarified on the matter.