BJP leaders attack Siddaramaiah for fall of Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2019

Sudhakar asked if Siddaramaiah can deny the fact that he had no role in the collapse of Congress-JD(S) coalition government in 2019

Two former BJP ministers have accused Siddaramaiah of doing little to keep them from quitting the Congress-JD(S) coalition government that collapsed in 2019. But they faced pushback from another turncoat who differed.

Former ministers K Sudhakar and ST Somashekar tweeted on Wednesday morning that Siddaramaiah paved the way for them to join the BJP. Their claims coincided with speculation emerging from New Delhi that Siddaramaiah is likely to become the next chief minister.

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However, former minister MTB Nagaraj said Siddaramaiah did not push MLAs to join BJP.

Sudhakar, Somashekar and Nagaraj were with the Congress before they quit along with 14 other MLAs in 2019.

“During the JD(S)-Congress coalition govt in 2018, whenever MLAs went to the then Coordination Committee Chairman Shri Siddaramaiah with their concerns, he used to express his helplessness and say that he has no say in the government and his constituency/district works itself are stalled (sic),” Sudhakar said. "Further, Shri Siddaramaiah used to assure MLAs to wait till 2019 Lok Sabha polls and come what may he won't allow Shri HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government to continue even for a single day after Lok Sabha polls,” he claimed.

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“Ultimately some of us had to inevitably quit Congress and go back to the people in bypolls, to protect the karyakartas and supporters in our constituencies,” Sudhakar said, adding that Siddaramaiah can't deny his role.

“Despite being the Chairman of the Coordination Committee Shri Siddaramaiah always expressed his helplessness to address the concerns of MLAs during the Congress-JD(S) coalition government,” Somashekar said. “No one can deny the truth that this pushed some of us to quit the party and go for bypolls,” he added.

Their claims are based on a widely-believed notion that Siddaramaiah did little to convince the MLAs from rebelling.

However, Nagaraj countered Sudhakar. "It's true that Siddaramaiah asked us to be quiet till the Lok Sabha election when we went to him with complaints that our works aren't happening," he said. "Let Sudhakar swear on his deity that Siddaramaiah had a role to play directly or indirectly. Why was he quiet all these days?"

Senior Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao slammed Sudhakar for "duplicity" and said: "You didn’t quit to protect your karyakartas or supporters. You quit to serve your own ambition. Neither do you have any ideology nor any principles."