'2023 polls will be my last, won't contest from Chamundeshwari', says Siddaramaiah
Mysuru, Mar 25: Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Sunday strongly reiterated that the 2023 Assembly election would be his last, and that he would not be contesting that poll from Chamundeshwari segment where he had faced defeat in 2018.
The Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly also announced that he would not be accepting any position including that of Rajya Sabha, after the term of the next Assembly.
The former Chief Minister, accusing BJP's misinformation campaign against him led to his defeat from Chamundeshwari in 2018, blamed also the failure of Congress workers in taking programmes of his government and its achievements to people and some elements within the party for the loss.
"I'm making it very very clear, you (Congress workers) to take this clearly, I will not contest from Chamundeshwari again. No one should say again that Siddaramaiah will contest from Chamundeshwari. We will make someone a candidate, ensure that he or she wins, he or she will be a Congress candidate," Siddaramaiah said.
Addressing party workers in Chamundeshwari, he said he would not contest from the constituency and asked partymen to not make such statements even to please him.
"Remove it from your head... I will not contest from here again. I'm making it very, very, very clear. In 2018, the people of Chamundeshwari left my hand, but the people of Badami have held my hands, they want me to contest from there again, so do people from Kolar, Koppal, Hunsur and Varuna, but I have still not decided. I will contest from wherever I'm asked to," he added.
Siddaramaiah said, "I will not contest again...after that (term) I will not accept any position. I will not accept if I'm asked to become Rajya Sabha member or something else."
"...Why I'm contesting, you know? This corrupt government should go. This communal government should go," he added.
Siddaramaiah, the then sitting chief minister, had lost in Chamundeshwari in 2018 to JD(S) G T Deve Gowda by a margin of over 36,042 votes.
He, however, won Badami, the other constituency from where he had contested, defeating BJP's B Sriramulu by a margin of just 1,696 votes.
Making his debut in the Assembly in 1983, Siddaramaiah had got elected from Chamundeshwari on a Lok Dal party ticket. He won five times from this constituency and lost thrice.
After neighbouring Varuna became a constituency in 2008 following delimitation, Siddaramaiah represented it till he vacated the seat for his son Dr Yatindra (MLA) in the 2018 Assembly polls and went back to his old constituency of Chamundeshwari.
Ahead of the May 2018 Assembly polls, Siddaramaiah had said it would most likely be his last election.
Earlier, during the 2013 Assembly polls, too, he had said that it was his last election and went on to become Chief Minister after the polls.
It is no secret that Siddaramaiah, who was Chief Minister between 2013-2018, is nursing his ambition for a second term in office, if the party wins the next Assembly polls.
With State Congress president D K Shivakumar, too, having similar aspirations, it has triggered a game of one-upmanship between the two.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
