Polarisation won’t work in Karnataka: Siddaramaiah

Close to a year ahead of the Karnataka assembly elections, former chief minister and Congress stalwart Siddaramaiah said his party’s campaign would be to amplify “Kannadiga pride”, and raise the demand for more jobs for locals in the state. He claimed that repeated campaigns by Hindu groups against Muslims in the state have pushed the BJP to the “backfoot”, and that the Congress would educate voters on how the BJP has hurt the state’s interests.

He said there was nothing such as “soft Hindutva” or “hard Hindutva” and the Congress would continue to defend the constitutional rights of Muslims.

Siddaramaiah, who was in Delhi to talk to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, said there was “no disagreement between the state party leaders, particularly DK Shivakumar, and they were ready to face the election together”.

“We discussed all possible strategies, why we lost in 2018... Last time, we didn’t market our work well, but this time we will not make those mistakes...Apart from the state-level chintan shivir, we are having meetings in every district and constituency...The political mood in Karnataka is pro-Congress,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said his party has been seeking the full implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report which recommends a large share of jobs to be reserved for Kannadigas in public sector undertakings, private companies, and multinational companies. Attempts to implement the report, which is three-decade old, were made even during Siddaramaiah’s time as chief minister but failed. “We are not against Hindi, but in Karnataka, Kannada should get importance. We want to ensure all the class II, III and IV jobs to go to locals,” he said.

He added that the party would release a report of the socio-economic and caste census that was conducted during his time as CM by the State Commission for Backward Classes.