Siddu quit Chamundeshwari seat to save ideology

Mysore, Nov 21: Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah today said he had tendered his resignation to the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency prior to joining the Congress to save his ideology and self-respect and was confident of retaining his seat in the December four by-election.

Participating in an interaction of bypoll candidates, organised by the Mysore District Journalist Association here, he said the by-election would not be a referendum on the Government, but as Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy himself had accepted, the election was a 'test' of the coalition Government.

Mr Siddaramiah denied as ''baseless'', the allegation levelled by Mr Kumaraswamy that Government officials were helping him in getting election funds and said let the Chief Minister immediately take action against such officials. He denied that the Congress had influenced the BSP against fielding a candidate for the bypoll.

On the Chief Minister and his Deputy camping in the constituency for more than 15 days, he said that when the entire government was involved in the election process, there were all possible chances of misuse of official machinery to influence the voters.

Speaking on the occasion, BJP-backed Janata Dal (S) candidate Shivabasappa said his political career spanned over four decades. However, this was the first time he was contesting polls and people were better judges to decide on their representative. Janata Dal (U) candidate A S Guruswamy, who quit the JD(S) after being denied the party ticket and joined the JD(U), said he would fight against the injustice meted out to him by the JD(S). He came down heavily on the JD(S) top brass for selecting candidates without holding consultations with other leaders and aspirants.

Samajwadi Party candidate B Karunakaran said that though the contest was between the Congress and the JD(S) in the byelection, he would show the strength of the Samajwadi Party with the backing of former Chief Minister and SP State President S Bangarappa.

Meanwhile, election campaigns are slowly picking up as leaders of the Congress and JD(S) were camping in the constituency, visiting each and every village.

UNI

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