Taking exceptions to his critics who opposed the grand celebration of his 75 th birth anniversary by his fans at Davanagere on August 3, 2022, the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the term Siddaramotsava to refer to his birth anniversary was coined by media and not by him or his fans.
“I also participated in Yediyurappa’s birth anniversary celebration as I was invited. I am going to complete 75 years. My friends and well-wishers are going to celebrate it in Davanagere. It is not a government programme. BJP is afraid of the massive gathering that is expected during the celebration. The celebration is called Siddaramotsava by the media, not by my friends or well-wishers. We called it Siddaramaiah 75 an Amrita Mahotsava,” he told media representatives at Kalaburagi Airport on Thursday.
The Congress leader was on his way to Yadgir, Vijayapura and Bagalokt district to participate in different programmes.
PSI recruitment scam
When asked about the PSI recruitment scam, Mr. Siddaramiah demanded a narco analysis test on Amrit Paul, who was the ADGP (Recruitment) when the scam took place, to know the involvement of senior officers and politicians in the scam.
“Many ministers and their close associates are suspected to be involved in the PSI recruitment scam. If you want a clear picture of the scam and the people involved, you need to conduct a narco analysis test on senior officers including Amrit Paul. The diary maintained by Mr. Paul should also be thoroughly investigated,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Floods
Criticising Karnataka government for its “unpreparedness” to face the flood situation, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the government would go to pay compensation to farmers after they were hit hard by the floods instead of preparing to address the issues beforehand.
“Heavy rains have been lashing for the last two weeks and no district in-charge minister is visiting the flood-hit areas. It was only after Chief Minister visited Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada, that these ministers started. The government has not yet compensated the farmers who lost their crops and cattle and got their houses damaged in the floods in 2019 and 2020. It is an irresponsible government,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Responding to queries on Devanur Mahadeva’s recent book, RSS Ala Mattu Agala and people’s response to it, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the author had exposed what the RSS ideologues K.B. Hedgewar and M.S. Golwalkar had said.
“Why do the RSS people get angry when someone says the truth? They get the cases registered against those who speak the truth. It is a threat to the freedom of expression. Who are they to suppress the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of India? Even the Parliament has no right to modify the foundation of the Indian Constitution,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Congress leader Sharan Prakash Patil, Ajay Singh, Sharanu Modi and others were present.
