Expressing unhappiness at the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday broke down at an event and talked of the pain of running a coalition government saying it does not have the mandate of the people.
At the event, which was organised by the party to felicitate Kumaraswamy on becoming the CM and waiving farm loans, the chief minister equated the pain of being the leader of the coalition to swallowing poison.
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“You are standing with bouquets to wish me as one of your brothers became the CM. You all are happy, but I’m not. I know the pain of coalition government. I became Vishkanth and swallowed the pain of this government,” Kumaraswamy said.
A visibly emotional Kumaraswamy also said that he could step down from the post any time. Earlier, both the parties – Congress and JD(S) – had maintained that their coalition government would complete full term.
Recently, former CM Siddaramaiah had objected to the move to reduce rice entitlement under the Anna Bhagya scheme from 7 kg to 5 kg. The subsidised rice scheme was one of the flagship programmes of the Siddaramaiah government.
In an apparent reaction to this, TOI quoted Kumaraswamy as saying, “For the last one month, nobody knows the jugglery I’ve been doing to convince officials to agree to the (farm) loan waiver. Now, they want 7kg rice instead of 5kg rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme. From where should I get Rs 2,500 crore for this? I’m being criticised for levying taxes…. If I wish, within two hours I can step down from the office.”
Both the parties had stitched a post poll coalition in Karnataka after the Bharatiya Janata Party had emerged the single largest party with 104 seats in the state Assembly Elections.
