Is it wrong for the son of a shepherd to become State’s CM twice?: Siddaramaiah- NSP NEWS

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressing a convention in Manvi town of Raichur district on Saturday
| Photo Credit: Santosh Sagar

Reiterating that he would not resign on “false allegations”, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said there was no question of succumbing to a “conspiracy” hatched by the Opposition BJP and JD(S) to destabilise a government helmed by the “son of a shepherd”.

“The BJP and the JD(S), unable to tolerate the fact that I have become the Chief Minister twice, have joined hands and are hatching a conspiracy against me,” he said. “Is it wrong for the son of a shepherd to become the Chief Minister of the State twice?” he asked, addressing a gathering at ‘Shoshita, Damanita, and Shudra Samudayagala Swabhimani Samavesh’, a gathering largely of Dalit and OBC communities, after laying the foundation stone for a ₹458.42-crore project in Manvi town of Raichur district.

The Chief Minister said he would reply to the allegations he was facing of irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife, Parvathi, by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), currently under investigation by the Lokayukta and the Directorate of Enforcement. “We will tell the truth to the people,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said. He appealed to the people to teach the Opposition parties a lesson for their “falsehood and deception”.

‘My wife dragged in’

Mr. Siddaramaiah turned emotional while talking about how his wife’s name was “dragged into politics”. He said, “I have implemented many pro-people programmes and then guarantee schemes for the welfare of the people. Is that wrong? They have now dragged my wife, who has never been involved in politics, into the issue because they are jealous of me.”

Referring to the repeated demands of the Opposition for his resignation, he said, “I am tired of their repeated demand. But I am neither scared nor will I bend to their demands as long as I get support and blessings from you. You people have to stop them from destabilising the government,” he said in an emotional appeal to the crowd.

Aggressively attacking BJP leaders and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “They did nothing for the people when they were in power. But they are spreading falsehoods against us now, stating that the State government has no grants for development works. The BJP, which has never come to power on its own strength, did ‘operation lotus’ and came to power. Mr. Kumarswamy has also now joined hands with the BJP to criticise me and the government.”