Siddaramaiah isn’t scared of threats: Shivakumar

Kalaburgi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Tuesday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is a seasoned politician who is not scared of threats.

“Siddaramaiah ordered constituting a judicial commission to investigate the MUDA case himself. He is a seasoned politician with four decades of experience and is certainly not scared of threats,” the Deputy Chief Minister said while addressing a press conference in Kalaburgi

On former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar’s comment that Siddaramaiah should not be scared if he has not done anything wrong, Shivakumar said that it is Shettar who should be scared. “The High Court has stayed the prosecution permission as it thinks the Chief Minister hasn’t done anything wrong,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Asked if Siddaramaiah would complete a five-year term, he said Congress would govern the state for the next 10 years.

On the allegations that Congress is insulting the Governor as he is a Dalit, Shivakumar said that it is the Constitution which has put him in that place and not the caste.

On the BJP’s demand to register a case under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act for insulting a Dalit Governor, the Deputy Chief Minister taunted, “Tell them to come and get admitted to the new hospital which has come up newly in Kalaburgi.”

Replying to a query on BJP’s tweet which drew parallels between the arrest of the then former Chief Minister Yediyurappa and the current situation, he said, “It is not the Congress which put Yediyurappa in jail, it was former PM Deve Gowda and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy who were responsible.”

On Lokayukta requesting the Governor to give permission to prosecute Kumaraswamy in a mining case, he said, “I don’t have much information on this. I need to see the documents myself and can’t depend on media reports.”

Replying to Minister for Excise Satish Jarakiholi’s statement that Siddaramaiah needs to be supported, the Deputy Chief Minister said that all leaders including Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge are supporting the Chief Minister.

He said that Siddaramaiah hasn’t done anything wrong and he will get justice.