Siddaramaiah, former Chief Minister and Chairman of the coordination committee of Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government, said that bypolls will indicate the mood of the people for the 2019 elections.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, who was here to participate in an election meeting to be addressed jointly by him and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, said at a press meet on Wednesday: “It is also a test of performance of the erstwhile Congress government, the present coalition government, and the failures of the Modi government.”
“People in Ballari district, as I have observed during my electioneering, do not want ‘Republic of Ballari’ that prevailed during the Ballari Reddy brothers’ regime, but want the ‘Voice of Ballari’ to be heard in Parliament,” he said, adding that their candidate V.S. Ugrappa, a well-known parliamentarian, would be able to achieve this.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa was day-dreaming that the coalition government will collapse after the bypoll results are announced. “He has been seeing only the third floor of Vidhana Soudha in his dreams. But his dream will never realise. The coalition government will remain unaffected even if Mr. Yeddyurappa repeatedly makes such statements,” he said.