Cong lost as PM Modi used MUDA case in Haryana: Koliwad

NT Correspondent Bengaluru: Senior Congressman and former Karnataka Assembly Speaker KB Koliwad doubled on his stand that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should step down, even going so far as to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi bringing up the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case in campaigns for the Grand Old Party’s loss in Haryana. Congress lost in the Haryana Assembly polls, the results for which were declared on Tuesday. They finished as the second largest party with 37 seats, well short of the magic number 46 in the 90-member Assembly. The ruling BJP finished with 48 seats. Koliwad made the comments to mediapersons in Bengaluru on Tuesday. He had first called upon Siddaramaiah to resign as CM last month, which led to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president GC Chandrashekhar to ask him to not deviate from the party line.

The former Speaker had insisted that Siddaramaiah was guiltless, would be acquitted and then can be sworn in again as CM. The reason for Koliwad’s demand was the CM’s wife Parvati receiving 14 plots, allegedly of higher value than the land she lost to MUDA. Parvati has since given up her claim on the compensatory sites. However, a First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Corruption Act and a probe is underway. Despite the pushback by his party colleagues, Koliwad reiterated that the MUDA scam had “embarrassed” the party. He reasoned that although an individual (Siddaramaiah) was accused, the party would be affected. “Earlier, I gave the example of Haryana. In Haryana, (PM) Modi went from village to village and campaigned. I said it will affect us in Haryana. Didn’t it affect us in the end? We (National Conference-led coalition) won in Kashmir. However, Modi travelled all over Haryana and spoke only about Karnataka, which affected us. This is why we are under the circumstances where we are losing in Haryana. We don’t know what the final result will be but there has been an effect. The party has been embarrassed,” Koliwad said.

DKS defends CM: However, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar disagreed with Koliwad’s assessment. “There is no need to discuss MUDA. There is no connection between MUDA and the CM. The investigation is going on,” he said. However, Shivakumar said that Congress accepted the verdict in Haryana.

“People’s verdict is ultimate. I did not believe the exit polls but was confident that we would get the majority, but the result is otherwise. I was confident of victory for the Congress alliance in Jammu and Kashmir. Haryana has a lot of farmers and the result is a setback but we have to accept people’s verdict,” he added.