CM and Ashok lock horns over LS poll results

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok were engaged in war of words over the Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday, with the former calling the latter “ignorant and entertaining people”. In response, Mr. Ashok said the Chief Minister “sometimes wakes up from deep slumber to exhibit his arrogance and anger”.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok were engaged in war of words over the Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday, with the former calling the latter “ignorant and entertaining people”. In response, Mr. Ashok said the Chief Minister “sometimes wakes up from deep slumber to exhibit his arrogance and anger”.

Attacking Mr. Ashok for his comments, the Chief Minister said the Congress had improved its vote share by 13% from the previous elections and increased the seat tally from one to nine.

“Mr. Ashok keeps exhibiting his ignorance and entertains people of the State. He says that guarantees have not brought votes to Congress. Why are you (Mr. Ashok) so angry with the guarantees? People of the State and the country defeated Modi’s guarantees and not Congress’ guarantees. We have improved our vote share by 13 % over the previous elections and the vote share difference between BJP and Congress is a mere 0.63 %,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said in a statement. Though the Congress was not happy with the results, people had supported the party, he added.

The Chief Minister said that though the BJP fell at the feet of Janata Dal (S), it could not prevent decline in the number of seats from 26 to 17 and the Congress could not be prevented from increasing the tally from one to nine.

“Tell us now who won and who lost. You should introspect and later analyse Congress’ performance. We have not implemented guarantees for political gain only. It is out commitment and concern for people of the State.”

He further said that the concern of BJP towards Dalits was displayed by the fact that no Dalit or a person from backward classes had been accommodated in the Union Cabinet. “The murder of an innocent girl in Hubballi was used politically that affected us. Otherwise, BJP would have come down to single digit.”

In response, Mr. Ashok said: “The Chief Minister sometimes wakes up from his deep slumber to display arrogance and anger. It is your Ministers and legislators who are saying that guarantees have failed to bring votes and I am not saying this. Though Congress allied with 40 parties across the country and indulged in spread of misinformation, it could not muster seats that the BJP won independently. The Congress figures did not exceed double digits.”