Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he had not indulged in “adjustment politics” since he was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1983 and that he would quit politics if the charge was proved.
He made the statement in the Legislative Assembly when senior BJP member Basanagouda Patil Yatnal claimed there was “adjustment politics” in the Congress.
The issue cropped up during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address to both Houses of the legislature when the talk veered towards the BJP not yet having a Leader of the Opposition.
‘You will not be LoP’
When Mr. Yatnal stood up to say that the Congress had failed to implement its manifesto and its guarantees, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “You, don’t stand up again and again to talk. You will not become LoP as per my information.” This was the context of political grapevine about Mr. Yatnal also being in the race for the LoP post.
Irked by the Chief Minister’s statement, Mr. Yatnal said, “This is also adjustment politics,” apparently indicating that Mr. Siddaramaiah was favouring the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai becoming the LoP rather than him.
‘Not my politics’
Mr. Siddaramaiah retorted, “Adjustment politics is not my politics... I came to the House along with R.V. Deshpande, B.S. Yediyurappa, and B.R. Patil in 1983.”
BJP leaders Pratap Simha and C.T. Ravi have in the past made statements that “adjustment politics” had caused the BJP’s rout in the recent Assembly elections.
