BENGALURU, Jun 27: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah appears to be a very disgruntled + man ever since results of the assembly election were declared in the state, and has made his displeasure known with jibes — virtually daily now — at his successor H D Kumaraswamy. This has not only left JD(S) MLAs angry, but also caused plenty of discontent among Congress leaders.
“As the chairman of the coordination committee, Siddaramaiah is expected to be at the forefront to ensure the JD(S)-Congress coalition government functions smoothly,” a senior Congress leader told TOI. “Unfortunately, he is only creating trouble by expressing doubts about the longevity of the government time and again.”
Several Congress MLAs and leaders privately claim Siddaramaiah’s opposition to Kumaraswamy presenting a full-fledged budget is uncalled for since it has been the practice of every new government to present a budget. “How can you expect the new assembly to accept a budget which it has not approved?” asked a Congress leader, while reminding Siddaramaiah that AICC president Rahul Gandhi has no hassled with Kumaraswamy tabling a new budget.
A senior JD(S) leader said Siddaramaiah could have raised the budget issue in a coordination committee meeting instead of going public about it. “Moreover, as part of the power-sharing agreement, only JD(S) secretary-general K Danish Ali and AICC general secretary, K C Venugopal, have been authorized to speak to the media on any matter pertaining to coalition government,” the leader said.
