Politicians responsible for electoral corruption: Karnataka ex-CM Siddaramaiah

MYSURU: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday held politicians responsible for electoral corruption in the country. Speaking at a seminar organised in memory of late socialist P Mallesh by Kannada Vikasa Shaikshinika Samajika Samsthe at Rama Govinda Rangamandira in the city, he felt that politicians got people to vote by wooing them with gifts, cash and other freebies.
He recalled that he spent only Rs 65,000 when he was elected to the legislative assembly for the first time while he spent Rs 3,500 for taluk board elections he had contested for the first time. “But such a situation does not exist in the current democratic election system in the country,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said his father did not give consent to him to contest in taluk board polls, but later he agreed as the people of his village convinced him to do so.
My father wanted me to be a doctor, he added. He said that he would have missed the opportunity of becoming chief minister if he focused on his medical studies. “Mallesh shaped my political career, I was inspired by his socialist, Gandhian thoughts and philosophy,” he said.