I have never been politically weak, asserts Siddaramaiah

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday declared that he had never been politically weak, though he had faced physical weakness sometimes.

When leader of the Opposition R. Ashok remarked in the Legislative Assembly that the Chief Minister, who had recently been indisposed, was looking fresh and appeared to have overcome weakness — both physical and political — the Chief Minister remarked, “It is not possible for me to become politically weak. I have never faced political weakness earlier and I will not face it in future also. There are no circumstances that can cause political weakness. Of course, I do face physical weakness sometimes.”

These statements were made in the context of the Chief Minister asserting that he would serve the full term as Chief Minister and there was no “pact” restricting his tenure to half of the five-year term.

On a philosophical note

However, on a philosophical note, Chief Minister also said, “We can come to power only if the people bless us. People are the bosses in a democracy. Whatever may be our ideology, it is the people who decide on giving power.”

The Chief Minister launched a counter-attack on the BJP by asking Mr. Ashok whether he was confident of continuing in his position for the full term. “B.S. Yediyurappa too used to say that he would complete full term of five years, but that did not happen,” he reminded.

Dinner meeting

Interestingly, this assertion came a day after the Chief Minister and his confidants got together for dinner at the residence of Satish Jarkiholi, Minister and Congress leader.

In attendance were Ministers H.C. Mahadevappa, G. Parameshwara and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed, Naseer Ahmed, MLC and political secretary to the Chief Minister, A.S. Ponnanna, MLA and legal adviser to the Chief Minister, and some other local leaders.

The guest who surprised the media persons waiting at the front gates was M.C. Sudhakar, Minister who is believed to be a follower of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

Sources close to Mr. Jarkiholi said the number of VIP guests did not cross a dozen.

Mr. Jarkiholi, who arrived at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Friday morning, dismissed speculation that the dinner meeting was a show of strength.

“It was a routine meeting with friends. Every day, we are having such dinners at my house, since the Winter Session started. There is nothing political here,” he said.

Mr. Shivakumar, who had used Mr. Satish Jarkiholi’s helicopter to fly to a temple near Gokarna in Uttara Kannada district, said that there was nothing wrong in Ministers and leaders having dinner together.

‘We are producers, directors and actors’

Apparently referring the different functioning styles of the parties, the Chief Minister told the BJP members in the Assembly, “You [BJP] have someone to direct you on what to do. But there is no one to direct us. We [Congress leaders] are the directors, we are the producers and we are the actors too.”