Dalit CM not an issue now, says Siddaramaiah

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah said Dalit chief minister is not an issue now and the media should stop misrepresenting the statement of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Speaking to media persons on Tuesday, he said, Kumaraswamy meant that the Congress will win all 15 seats when he said Mallikarjuna Kharge will distribute sweets on December 9.

In response to the comment of MP V Srinivas Prasad that the Congress will be white-washed in Karnataka after the bypolls on December 5, Siddaramaiah said, Prasad has not yet learnt a lesson. “Who trounced him in the bypolls in Nanjangud?” he asked.

Responding to his recent praise by ex-MLA A H Vishwanath, Siddaramaiah said, Vishwanath had written a letter against him to the Congress high command when he was chief minister and he was an ungrateful person. “Now, he is praising me to win over the voters. When I was dismissed by the JD(S), after my lead in the Ahinda movement, Manchanahalli Mahadev supported me in all ways. However, I ignored Mahadev and issued a ticket to Vishwanath to contest the Assembly poll from K R Nagar in 2008. But, Vishwanath cheated me. He is a big liar,” he said.

Following the statements of JD(S) leaders, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, about the formation of the government, he said, both the BJP and the JD(S) are equal rivals for the Congress.