Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chamarajanagar: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a wide range of salvos against BJP on the sidelines of an event in Chamarajanagar district, including the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which he said was done keeping the Lok Sabha polls in mind.
Siddaramaiah was speaking to reporters on Tuesday after participating in an event commemorating the first death anniversary of R Dhruvanarayan, who the chief minister described as a 'model leader'. He was attending the event in Heggodu village, Chamarajanagar district, on the request of Congress MLA Darshan Dhruvanarayan.
Commenting on MP Ananthkumar Hegde's statement on amending the Constitution, he said, "It is the hidden agenda of the BJP. Ananthkumar was a former Union Minister and an MP. Can he say this without the party's decision? Hegde had earlier stated that they had come to power to amend the Constitution. Now he is saying that they will change the Constitution if they get 2/3rd majority. The BJP believes in Manusmriti", he said.
Replying to a query on Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, a member of the erstwhile royal family, being considered as BJP nominee, and 'adjustment' politics by Congress in Mysuru, Siddarmaiah said, "Did I ask Yaduveer to contest from BJP. His name is yet to be announced, but Simha is the sitting (BJP) MP. The BJP might have considered his (Yaduveer's) name as Pratap Simha has lost his reputation. We don't know."
"Our objective is to defeat the BJP, irrespective of the candidate. We are dependent on our pro-people programmes. The candidate for Mysuru and Chamarajanagar is yet to be finalised. The second list of candidates will be out in two or three days,'' he said.
Siddaramaiah also denied allegations that water is being secretly released to Tamil Nadu, once again. "It is all lies. There is no question of releasing water even if Tamil Nadu or Centre ask us to. There is no water. Not even a single drop of water will be released to Tamil Nadu. I have directed the officials to ensure that there is no drinking water shortage," he stated.