BSY will have to resign after bypolls: Siddaramaiah

Predicting the defeat of the Congress and JD(S) rebels in the upcoming bypolls, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will have to resign due to the outcome.

Noting that several leaders who hopped to the BJP had lost in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, he said that a similar fate awaits the rebels contesting from the saffron party.

Addressing a news conference, he said that people would ensure the defeat of the defectors. "Congress will win a majority of seats in the upcoming bypolls. This will create a scenario where Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will have to resign," he said. To a question, he said that the Congress would go to polls after unseating the BJP government. "We are not like Yediyurappa and won't form a minority government," he said.

The Congress leader said that the election results in Haryana and Maharashtra reflected that people were losing faith in the BJP. Pointing out that the Congress had gained seats in both the States, he said that they had expected a victory in Haryana. "However, the result went against our expectations as even the Haryana State Congress chief switched camp ahead of elections," he said.

Criticising the erroneous predictions by exit polls, he said that such polls were 'BJP-sponsored'. "That is how they got it so wrong," he said, noting that exit polls had suggested a maximum of 12 seats for Congress in Haryana.

He attacked the State government over flood relief efforts and said that people were furious. "The State government has completely failed in providing relief. Not everybody has received even Rs 10,000. Crop loss survey is yet to be completed," he said.

"The government has no eyes or ears. It has lost all its five senses," he said. Even the ministers in-charge of these districts have not visited the flood-affected areas afraid that they will be roughed up by the affected population, he added.