I feel sorry for B S Yediyurappa, says Siddaramaiah

The Opposition Congress and the JD(S) on Monday took potshots at Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for saying that he was walking the tightrope ever since he came to power.

It was on Sunday that Yediyurappa, while speaking in Davangere, made the ‘tightrope walking’ statement, which was construed as an expression of the difficulty he’s facing from within the party and his Cabinet.

“I feel sad seeing Yediyurappa’s position,” Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah said in a tweet. “BJP high command has clipped the wings of Yediyurappa. His own party members are harassing him. They are not allowing Yediyurappa to discuss burning state issues also,” he charged.

“We from Congress had written a letter to Narendra Modi, requesting to meet him when he had come to Bengaluru on the day when Vikram Lander was supposed to land (on the lunar surface). He did not meet us. Even Yediyurappa is scared to talk to him about the flood situation. How to resolve this then?” Siddaramaiah added.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) urged Yediyurappa to focus on the flood-hit areas from atop the tightrope. “Yediyurappa, who became the CM by leading the rebel MLAs astray, should also look towards people in the flood-hit areas from the tightrope,” he said. “If your government cannot rebuild the lives of those who’ve lost everything to the floods, people will get you off the tightrope.”

Revenue Minister R Ashoka backed Yediyurappa on his statement. “I don’t know in what context he said that, but I’m with him and he has my full support for the next three years.”