Vishwanath accuses CM of playing ‘caste card’ to save his chair

A.H. Vishwanath, MLC, said here on Wednesday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was playing “caste card” to save his chair and come clean in the eyes of the public.

Responding to the Chief Minister’s remarks made in Mysuru on Tuesday that the BJP and the JD(S) leaders were foisting false cases to unseat him as they were unable to digest a representative of backward classes becoming the Chief Minister for the second time, Mr. Vishwanath said such a mindset does not behove a true leader.

He said it was a futile attempt to play caste politics and create an impression that the “upper castes” were opposed to an OBC becoming the Chief Minister. “But did Mr. Siddaramaiah win the elections only because of the OBC votes? Didn’t Lingayats and Vokkaligas vote for him or help him become the Chief Minister? A true leader should soar above such divisions,” said Mr. Vishwanath.

He said the Congress was bound to suffer due to Mr. Siddarmaiah’s style of functioning and attitude as no OBC or Kuruba has benefited from him or emerged as a leader. “Siddaramaiah is like Louis XV of France who is attributed with the phrase - after me the deluge,” said Mr. Vishwanath.

Taking potshots at Mr. Siddaramaiah’s Mysuru visit to lay the foundation stone for various projects costing around ₹501 crore in Varuna, Mr.Vishwanath said it was a futile bid to proclaim his innocence.

“The crux of his speech was focused on claiming that he had no black spot in his political career but people of Mysuru are wise and cannot be fooled and the blackspot cannot be erased,” said Mr. Vishwanath who had in the past, criticized Mr. Siddaramaiah’s handling of the MUDA case pertaining to allotment of 14 sites to his wife. 

“No matter what Mr. Siddaramaiah claims people have reached a conclusion and are seeing through how they were taken for a ride,” said Mr. Vishwanath.

The State was known for administrative vigour, development, progressive policies but today it is notorious for corruption in all spheres and Mr. Siddaramaiah should take the blame for it, he added.

He said Karnataka’s finances were in a mess and the economy was in a tailspin due to the implementation of the guarantee schemes. The government had failed to release even the old-age pension in the last few months while corruption was widespread, said Mr. Vishwanath. “There is an administrative collapse in the State and Mr.Siddaramaiah was presiding over it,” he added.

Published - October 23, 2024 07:24 pm IST