‘Siddu for CM’ jibe warning for BJP?

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru

Transport minister  B.Sriramulu’s statement wishing to see Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Siddaramaiah as chief minister for a second term has created a political stir at a time when the state is poised to face Assembly polls after next 8-10 months.

 Political pundits see it as a subtle warning from the scheduled tribe leader to state BJP leaders to fulfill the promise made of making him deputy chief minister when his party, BSR Congress merged with the BJP a few years ago. Sriramulu has been a loyal soldier of the BJP for a long time and was close to former union minister, late Sushma Swaraj. He, along with G.Janardhan Reddy and G.Somashekar Reddy built the BJP in Ballari destroying the strong fortress of the Congress.

In 2018, Yediyurappa had promised to make Sriramulu deputy chief minister within 24 hours after the party came to power in the State. Sriramulu even took the risk of contesting from two constituencies, Molakalmuru in Chitradurga district and from Badami against then CM, Siddaramaiah. He won from Molakalmuru but lost in Badami to Siddaramaiah by a margin of around 4000 votes.

When Yediyurappa became CM in 2019, the BJP high command made others Deputy CM but left out the Ballari strongman. He has waited for three years expecting the party to recognise his services and with no response forthcoming from state or Central leaders, Sriramulu has dropped a bomb saying he would like to Siddaramaiah as CM again.

 Another reason why Sriramulu has praised Siddaramaiah is that he needs the support of Kuruba voters (Siddaramaiah’s community) to win in Ballari or even in neighbouring Chitradurga district. Similarly, Siddaramaiah too needs the backing of the Nayakas (Sriramulu’s community) to win in the 2023 Assembly polls.

 Interestingly, the former CM has not commented on Sriramulu’s statement leading to speculation that the duo have entered into a tacit understanding for the coming Assembly election.

 It’s becoming clear that Sriramulu may not mind bidding aieu to the BJP if he is not considered for deputy CM now