Senior Congress leader and MLC C M Lingappa on Tuesday vented his anger against KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, accusing him of ‘selling’ Ramanagara and other Assembly constituencies to other political parties.
Lingappa’s remarks came in the wake of Parameshwara’s reported statement that the Congress would not field its candidate in the bypoll to the Assembly from Ramanagara constituency and instead support the alliance partner JD(S).
At a press meet, Lingappa, a former Ramanagara MLA, said “Parameshwara is happy to be a deputy chief minister. That is his luck. But he lacks the determination to be a chief minister. We have to die or retire from politics if we have such leaders... In future he will even sell our wives and children. I will question him, if he continues this kind of attitude.”
“At least 20 Congress MLAs would have gone to the BJP if former minister D K Shivakumar had not united all the legislators at a resort. Parameshwara came to the resort leisurely at 12.30 pm that day. No politician has the courage to say ‘don’t make Shivakumar a minister.’ The Congress would have won 115 seats if the party had gone to polls under the leadership of Siddaramaiah with Shivakumar as KPCC president,” he said.
Lingappa said a section within the Congress is opposing the rise of Shivakumar. “We believe that he will take oath as a minister on Wednesday,” he said.