Siddaramaiah's announcement causes flutters in congress
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he will not fight electoral elections anymore. He had said the same when he was the Chief Minister as well. At a time when Siddaramaiah seemed inevitable to Congress demand for dalit Chief Minister was created.
The demand was created to unseat Siddaramaiah and not to make a dalit Chief Minister of the state.
Native Congress when fired so long as Siddaramaiah was in the party they would never get a chance to become the chief minister. To dissuade the fears of native congressmen, siddaramaiah had then told he would not fight elections anymore.
With this, the Parmeshwar gang was happy that the he can become a chief minister next time.
Owing to his duty towards people he was forced to fight Vidhan Sabha elections last time.
If Congress had achieved majority, Siddaramaiah's becoming of the CM second time over was most certain. Hence in order to avoid working under him again, native Congressis ensured he lost the Chamundeshwari seat. More than his opponent's pluses, anti-Siddaramaiah gang worked to make sure he lost. However, he won with a small margin in Badami, his second seat. If he had lost that, Siddaramaiah would have been a closed chapter in Congress.
This time again, Siddaramaiah has said he won't contest elections anymore. This time the announcement has come after considering changing political scenario and realities. This is a message to most leaders in his party and also to his opponents. He has made his role clear in the coming days in a rather delicate manner. He still nurses some anger about leaders who ensured his failure in Congress during last polls.
He has even made his inevitability clear when his party and JDS came together to form coalition government.
By now, other leaders also know that Siddaramaiah's presence is inevitable to Congress. Looks like former CM Siddaramaiah has decided to quit full time politics after teaching a good lesson to people who worked to defeat him. So his announcement of not contesting elections also means he'd stay away from the fighting grounds for a while. He now wants to play the king maker. So DKS gang can rely on him without any hesitation now. Because now Siddaramaiah is in a mindset that if he doesn't become the CM, that's fine. But he will not let someone else, especially his opponent to become one.
He did not say he'd stay out of politics either. DKS recently said Cong lost because the party supported the Lingayat issue in a rather irresponsible manner. In a way, this statement has Siddaramaiah as target. This statement makes the Lingayat issue some kind of a political strategy. Congress had lost miserably many a times even when the party never went close to the Lingayat issue. Internal conflicts caused the failure of Congress this time over. Hindutva wave also caused enough damage. BJP spent money like water in the elections rendering Congress helpless. Leaders like D.K. Shivakumar who hardly know anything about Lingayat dharma or about Basavanna, cause more damage to Congress.
The party has already earned the wrath of Veerashaivas on Lingayat issue. Most of the Veerashaivas are followers of RSS or BJP. Now even Lingayats will probably look at Congress with suspicion over this. Lingayat leaders now understand that their fight has to be a separate one and this has to be fought outside the citadel of Congress. Siddaramaiah knows the history of this land.
Is political journey is free from money, muscle power and rowdyism. His space is secure in the history of Karnataka respective of his victory or loss.
He can give fresh lease of life to value based politics. Hence his decision to not contest electoral elections must give him more free space to work in the Congress.
He must now concentrate on creating new generation of leaders for the state. This would help both the party and the state as well. Congress high command must focus on using his experience and statesmanship for its growth and the future of the party in the state.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Vinod Tawde seeks apology from Kharge, Rahul through legal notice, warns of defamation lawsuit
Cash-for-vote row
New Delhi, Nov 22: BJP leader Vinod Tawde has demanded an apology from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for making "false and baseless" allegations against him in the cash-for-votes incident in Maharashtra, saying if they don't he would sue them for defamation.
Tawde was accused by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, a regional party, of distributing Rs 5 crore to woo voters, with its members barging into a hotel room on November 19 in a Mumbai suburb, where the BJP leader was present.
The former Maharashtra minister and BJP national general secretary claimed innocence, saying the alleged amount was not recovered in the probe by the Election Commission and police.
"The Congress only believes in spreading lies, and this incident is a proof of the party's low level politics to dent me and my party's image," Tawde said.
The two Congress leaders and the party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate seized on the row to accuse the BJP of using money power to influence the November 20 assembly polls in the state.
The legal notice sent to the three claimed that they were aware that they were pushing a "totally false story fabricated" by them.
"You all have deliberately, mischievously with the sole intention of damaging the reputation of our client intentionally fabricated the story distribution of money. You all have published false, baseless allegations against our client on various media for tarnishing his image in the eyes of right thinking people in the society," the notice read.
The Congress leaders were in a "great hurry" to damage Tawde's reputation, they did not bother to check the fact and or despite knowing the entire fact they made the false, baseless allegations, it said.
"The entire imputation made by you all are totally false, baseless, malicious and mala fide and as our client is in no way involved in any such illegal activity and as a responsible office bearer of the national political party he is aware of his duties," it added.
The notice demanded an "unconditional apology" to Tawde within 24 hours from the time the receipt of the notice, which was sent on November 21, and published in newspapers and X.
If they do not offer apology, then Tawde will initiate criminal proceedings under Section 356, which covers defamation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also civil proceedings for the damages of Rs 100 crore against the three Congress leaders, the notice said.
