"I was expelled from JD(S)", says Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah during a press conference clarified that he was expelled from that party by the former prime minister and its supremo H D Deve Gowda for his AHINDA activities.

Bengaluru: In retaliation to the comment made by BJP MLA, R Ashok, regarding Siddaramaiah shifting his loyalty from JD(S) to Congress, the Former Chief Minister of Karnataka during a press conference on Saturday, clarified that he was expelled from that party.

"They (BJP) ask why Siddaramaiah quit JD(S) and joined Congress. I did not quit JD(S). I was expelled by Deve Gowda for my AHINDA activities. You must know the truth," Siddaramaiah told reporters at Kalaburagi.

AHINDA in Kannada stands for minorities, backward castes and Dalits.

The senior Congress leader was campaigning for party candidate Subhash Rathod, contesting the by-poll from Chincholi assembly constituency.

The Chincholi seat fell vacant after disgruntled Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav resigned from the assembly to join the Bharatiya Janata Party and contested the Lok Sabha election from Gulbarga where he had a direct fight with Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge.

The BJP gave the ticket to Jadhav's son Avinash Jadhav to contest from Chincholi Assembly constituency, where the election is due on May 19.

While addressing a public meeting two days ago, Siddaramaiah took jibe on Jadhav and said that a "traitor" alone would ditch the party, which is like a mother.

In retaliation, BJP MLA and former deputy chief minister R Ashok had sought to know why Siddaramaiah quit the JD(S) and joined the Congress.

To this, Siddaramaiah said that Ashok knew nothing as there were lots of dissimilarities between Umesh Jadhav quitting the Congress and joining the BJP and him leaving the JD(S) and joining the grand old party. The comparison was 'improper'.