Tumakuru (Karnataka), Sep 18 (IANS) : Former minister and Congress MLA, K.N. Rajanna, a close associate of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Friday made a sarcastic remark that votes would now come to the party only because of Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, drawing a comparison between the two leaders and their respective communities.
Responding to a question from the media in Tumakuru, Rajanna said, “No votes will come from Siddaramaiah now. All votes will come to the party only from Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.”
He said if Shivakumar was made Chief Minister, it could be argued that votes from the Vokkaliga community, from which he hails, would come to the Congress in the same manner as votes from the Kuruba community were presumed to have supported the party when Siddaramaiah was Chief Minister.
“When Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister, all votes from the Kuruba community, from which he hails, came to the Congress. Likewise, when Shivakumar is made Chief Minister, will Vokkaligas vote for the Congress en masse?” Rajanna asked.
He said Shivakumar had been made Chief Minister on the grounds that he was a powerful leader representing the Vokkaliga community, but whether people would support him would ultimately be decided by voters in the election.
“Whether people will support him or not will be known in the election. The people will decide, and then we will see,” he said.
Rajanna also defended Siddaramaiah’s standing within the Congress and said he remained an unquestionable leader of the Ahinda community.
“Siddaramaiah is an unquestionable leader of the Ahinda class. He had tried to make me the president of Apex Bank, but his attempts did not bear fruit. Just because of this, if anyone says that his words are not valued in the government, that is wrong,” he said.
Rajanna said he had not suffered any setback over the issue and maintained that delimitation of constituencies would take place.
He further said he intended to contest the Lok Sabha elections in the future.
“In the Madhugiri sub-division, one constituency will be formed after delimitation. I will contest from there,” Rajanna said.
On the other hand, responding to former minister Rajanna’s earlier statement that weakening Siddaramaiah would weaken the Congress, Minister for Municipal Administration H.C. Balakrishna, a close associate of Shivakumar said the party would be weakened if any of its key leaders, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar or Siddaramaiah, were weakened.
