D K Shivakumar denies making statement on Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday denied making any statement on Siddaramaiah.

"I have not made any such statement. Wherever there is hard work there will be fruit. Wherever there is devotion, there is a blessing from God," he said.

Shivakumar, who was in Delhi to meet Union Ministers, was reacting to media questions on his statement at Kempegowda’s 514th birth anniversary on June 27 at Bengaluru.

Speaking at the event, he said “When they constructed this (Vidhana Soudha) they carried the stones with chains on their legs as there were no machines then. The people who constructed it never stayed here. Now, we are sitting and doing darbar. Some work hard and some reap benefits and it’s been like this."

This triggered a political debate with several people directing Shivakumar's statement towards Siddaramaiah, who became the Chief Minister amid stiff opposition by the KPCC president.

Soon after Congress got a massive mandate in Karnataka, Shivakumar said he would be confident that Congress high command would recognise his hard work and reward him accordingly as he took the party state unit position when nobody was ready to take the responsibility.

Even Shivakumar's latest statement on Siddaramaiah evoked political debate. Shivakumar in a public meeting said that Siddaramaiah who was heading Congress from 2013 to 2018 got scared and shelved the steel bridge project.

“In the previous Siddaramaiah government, a proposal was brought to construct a steel bridge and there was a lot of uproar against it. Siddaramaiah got scared and shelved the project. If I would have been there, I would go ahead with it,” Shivakumar said.