Siddaramaiah Slams People of Badami, His Assembly Constituency, for Voting for BJP

Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday flayed the people of Badami, his assembly constituency, for voting for the BJP in the Lok Sabha election and ignoring those who "believe in development".

Siddaramaiah said the Congress government carried out several development works in the constituency but the people still voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Badami comes under the Bagalkot Lok Sabha constituency from where BJP's Gaddigoudar Parvatagouda Chandanagouda won defeating Congress candidate Veena Kashappanavar by a margin of over one lakh votes.

Addressing a gathering at Badami in Bagalkot district of North Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said, "In this Badami region, BJP gets 9,000 votes lead (in Lok Sabha election). I don't know what (good) they (BJP) have done that people vote for them. I can't understand."

"We built the panchayat building. We are the ones who gave rice and paddy, we waived the loans, we built tanks for agriculture, we offered Vidya Siri scheme," the Congress Legislature Party leader said.

"You don't vote for those who believe in development," Siddaramaiah added.

When a man stood up to reply, Siddaramaiah asked him whether he was from the BJP.

Some locals of Badami have reportedly launched a campaign — 'Where is our MLA?' alleging that Siddaramaiah had neglected the constituency as he spends most of his time in Bengaluru and Mysuru.

The Congress leader's outburst comes a day after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy lost his cool and shouted at a group of workers of Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) in Raichur district when they approached him with a list of grievances.

"You voted for Narendra Modi and want me to get your works done! You want me to give you respect. Should I order a lathi-charge? Leave the place," Kumaraswamy told the YTPS employees, leaving onlookers shocked.

Later, Kumaraswamy told a television channel that he had sought 15 days time to address the workers' grievances but they blocked the road which made him angry.

Asked to comment on Kumaraswamy's outburst, Siddaramaiah said it was not correct to react without knowing the context of his statement.

The BJP, however, slammed the Congress and the JD(S), and said that their public show of displeasure was a result of their "desperation".

BJP spokesperson Go Madhusudan warned that his party would stage protests if the coalition partners continue blaming the people for their poor performance in the Lok Sabha election.

"The coalition partners (Congress and JD-S) are not been able to digest their defeat in the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka," he told PTI.

He said all these days they were blaming each other for the defeat.

"Since they have to continue in the government, they can't afford to accuse each other. Hence, they found a way out and started blaming the people of the state who have voted for BJP," Madhusudan said.

Despite their denial, the Lok Sabha results were a referendum on the functioning of their government, he said and claimed that such statements indicated bickering and the imminent fall of the government.