Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar put up show of unity at Hassan rally

The Hassan convention, the ‘Jana Kalyana Samavesha’ hosted by the ruling Congress on Thursday, saw the warring factions led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar once again put up a united face. 

The two leaders were at loggerheads over the event that was initially conceived as a ‘show of strength’ of Siddaramaiah by his loyalists, but later turned into a party event after a nudge from the party leadership in Delhi. Shivakumar managed to put brakes on the Siddaramaiah-centric event and transformed it into a party event and also renamed it. 

The event named ‘Sri Siddaramaiah Swabhimanigala Samavesha’ (rally for self-respect) was planned by Siddaramaiah faction to redeem his image as a popular ‘Ahinda’ leader after he was embattled in the MUDA land allotment scam. However, the event was renamed as ‘Jana Kalyana Samavesha’ (people’s welfare convention) after Shivakumar complained to the party high command, which intervened and brokered peace between the warring factions. 

During the massive rally held in the JDS bastion, the duo stuck to the brief and launched a joint attack on the opposition BJP and the JDS, exhorting the party workers to ensure a clean sweep in Hassan in the next Assembly elections. 

“We have won all seats in Ramanagara, Mandya, Mysuru, Kodagu, Chikmagalur, and in the future, we hope to sweep Hassan district too. I seek your cooperation. I feel pained to see the history of Hassan. I pray to ‘Haasanambe’ to protect the women. We organised a ‘Swabhimana Samavesha’ to save the dignity of the women here,” said Shivakumar. 

“The Hassan rally marks a new chapter in the history of Hassan, which is a stronghold of the regional party. I hope the Congress wins all seven Assembly seats in the next polls and also retain the MP seat,” said Siddaramaiah, reiterating the sentiment of Shivakumar. 

Stating that the Congress party had a long history of bringing a revolution to better the lives of people, Shivakumar recalled that the Manmohan Singh government had brought food security, right to education and employment guarantee schemes. “Today, Siddaramaiah, who took oath on Basavanna’s birth anniversary, announced Anna Bhagya (free rice scheme) and Ksheera Schemes and a total of 14 schemes. If Veerappa Moily introduced CET, SM Krishna brought mid-day meal in schools, Stree Shakti Sangha and elevated Bengaluru to a global city with the IT-BT revolution. Then, the Congress party came to power under the leadership of both Siddaramaiah and myself. We gave five guarantees,” he added. 

While Shivakumar emphasised on the Congress’s long tradition of framing pro-people schemes and policies, Siddaramaiah seconded his deputy and assured the people that the guarantee schemes would not stop as long as his party would be in power. 

“The guarantee schemes will not be stopped as long as we are in power and even after May 2028 as we will come back to power,” Siddaramaiah, adding that the party would sweep Hassan and also the Old Mysore region. 

“This rally is to thank the voters as the Congress won all three seats. In the history of Karnataka, only Congress party has given a stable government as neither JDS or BJP has come to power on their own. Kumaraswamy became CM with help from the BJP and Congress. BJP came to power through the backdoor in 2008 by spending crores of money. Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and Sadananda Gowda became the chief ministers too. In 2018, they won only 104 seats and not 113 seats (majority). We offered the chief ministership to Kumaraswamy. But he could not save the government and as many as 17 of our MLAs joined the BJP and helped Yediyurappa and later Bommai become chief minister,” said Siddaramaiah, adding that contrary to the opposition parties’ claim, the state government had money to fund the guarantee schemes and also the development work. 

Slamming the opposition parties, Saiddaramaiah said the BJP and JDS have no moral right to speak about the poor. 

“We announced five guarantee schemes and also implemented them. We have allocated Rs 56,000 crore for the schemes – Shakti, Anna Bhagya, Griha Lakshmi, Griha Jyoti and Yuva Nidhi. The BJP had claimed that our state would go bankrupt. They are anti-poor. We wanted to give 10 kilos of rice. But the Modi government did not provide rice for the (Anna Bhagya) scheme. So, we were forced to give Rs 170 per person instead of five kilo rice. If BJP can show at least one state where they are giving 10 kilo rice to each BPL cardholder, I will retire from politics,” dared Siddaramaiah. 

Siddaramaiah demanded to know if Devegowda or Kumaraswamy had fought for the state’s rights. 

“We need approval for Mekedatu project to provide drinking water to Bengaluru city and environmental clearance for Mahadayi project. The NABARD has reduced the farmers’ short-term loans to Rs 2,340 crore from Rs 5,600 crore. But the BJP MPs have no voice. The Karnataka government avails NABARD loans at 4.5 per cent interest and lends (upto Rs five lakh) to farmers for zero per cent interest and lend upto 10 lakh at three per cent interest. The silence of BJP and JDS MPs is a betrayal of the people of Karnataka,” said the chief minister. 

Devegowda expelled me from JDS

Venting out his ire against JDS patriarch for vowing to “uproot the Congress government” during the bypoll campaign, Siddaramaiah said he did not expect such words from Devegowda. 

“Your time in Hassan is over. You can do politics till your last breath as you wish. But I urge you not to indulge in politics of hate or say that you will finish our government,” said Siddaramaiah. 

Earlier Shivakumar had said that no one could “uproot the Congress government” as it was neither a potato or a peanut plant. “This is a government which has the support of 138 MLAs and the people. It is not in your destiny to eliminate us,” he asserted. 

Siddaramaiah seized the opportunity to hit back at Devegowda for taking credit for his rise in politics. “I did not quit the JDS, but was expelled from the party. Forget developing me, Devegowda did not nurture even Vokkaliga leaders – be it Channegowda, Puttegowda, Byregowda, Bachche Gowda, Krishnappa, Nagegowda, YK Ramaiah or BL Shankar. In fact, HD Krishnappa from KR Pete had written – ‘Devegowda who scripted our political exile will see a tragic end’. Devegowda claims to have developed me as a leader. But I would like to remind him that, if not for me and Jalappa, he would not have become the chief minister in 1994. Ramakrishna Hegde would have become the CM. We all built the party and he expelled me from the party for organising an Ahinda convention at Hubballi.”