MYSURU: In his efforts to increase Congress tally in Mysuru region, chief minister
Siddaramaiah, who poached JD(S) ZP member
Anil Chikkamadu and fielded him from
HD Kote reserve segment, on Sunday sought to play the emotional card to get people’s support for the party candidate.
Referring to S Chikkamadu, who was JD(S) MLA from H D Kote and died in November last year, he said: “JD(S) leadership should have fielded Anil after his father’s death. But they have preferred a leader who was with us first, then went to BJP and now joined JD(S). We have fielded Anil as we want to give his family justice.” Chikkamadu’s family members including wife and daughter attended the meet.
After Chikkamadu’s death, JD(S) picked Chikkanna, a former MLA while Anil, who was a ZP member from JD(S) quit and joined Congress following intervention of Siddaramaiah and Chamarajanagar MP R Dhruvanarayana. Of the eleven segments in Mysuru, Congress has eight and JD(S) three. The CM is seeking to improve the tally in the district by wresting HD Kote from JD(S) while retaining eight seats the party won in 2013.
Pointing at the party candidate, who is in his 30s, Siddaramaiah asked the voters “to feed grass to the ox which is fit to plough.” He said he helped Chikkamdu to implement several projects. “We never hurled abuses against each other though we were in opposite parties,” he stated.
He said voters should support Congress as his party was not indulged in corruption neither has it brought bad name to the state. “When they were in power, BS Yeddyurappa and HD Kumaraswamy did not work for people. But now they are claiming that they will initiate pro-people measures,” Siddaramaiah said. “But I walked the talk,” he claimed, adding he deserves a second term as CM.
Energy minister DK Shivakumar said BJP is daydreaming of returning to power and JD(S) could at the most win in 25 constituencies across the state.
PWD minister H C Mahadevappa, sugar minister MC Mohan Kumari and Congress MP Dhruvanarayana were present.
