Democracy run by money power: S M Krishna

Democracy in the country today is run by money power. Until such time that money controls politics, there can be no natural democracy, senior BJP leader S M Krishna said on Saturday.

Krishna was addressing a gathering at the launch of a collection of six reference books documenting his career and personal life, which includes his autobiography Smriti
Vahini.

Krishna said for those his age who had witnessed happier times, the present situation caused concern. “But there is no easy solution for all this. Young leaders and youth should reflect on it and work towards change,” he said.

On the occasion, the former Congress leader also recounted two instances that played a major role in his political career. One was him winning Assembly election against prominent Congress leader Veeranna Gowda from Maddur. “Had he not lost to me, he probably would have gone on to become the chief minister of the state,” he said. The second was when he lost the Assembly elections in 1967 and later contested the Parliament elections from Mandya, winning against a Congress candidate.

The former CM also recollected the tough times he faced when veteran actor Dr Rajkumar was kidnapped by forest brigand Veerappan. “The incident brought a pall of gloom upon the state. I was anxious that the Tamil population in Karnataka would bear the brunt of people’s anger. However, owing to tight security measures, no such untoward incident took place.”