Bengaluru, (DHNS) Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scared of him and thus targets him when ever he visits the state.

Speaking to reporters a day after Modi’s visit to the state, Siddaramaiah said, “The BJP and JD (S) leaders fear the Congress and Siddaramaiah. If I were to be weak, why would the BJP leaders target me so often. Now, all the Opposition leaders in Chamundeshwari Assembly segment have united to defeat me in the upcoming polls.”

Reacting to Modi’s statements that people of Karnataka are tired of the Congress government, Siddaramaiah said, if that was true, how could the Congress win the by-elections from Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly segments? “The BJP has sent its general secretary and state in-charge P Muralidhar Rao to Karnataka from Andhra Pradesh to make false allegations against the Congress. The BJP leaders are experts in hate politics. BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa is an expert in lying,” he said.

“The BJP’s ‘Mission-150’ has collapsed to 50. The Congress has no such programmes. We have no mission,” he said.

To a query, he said the Bidar-Kalaburagi railway line was delayed only because of the Union government. The project was conceived when M Mallikarjun Kharge was the Railway Minister. The first phase of the works were inaugurated by Kharge. It is the responsibility of the Union government to take up works related to the railways, he said.

‘Rumours about Sindhia’

Speaking to reporters in Chikkaballapur, Siddaramaiah rubbished as ‘rumours’ the reports that former minister and JD(S) leader P G R Sindhia would contest the Assembly elections from the Varuna constituency in Mysuru. “What is the connection between Sindhia and the Varuna constituency? I have no idea how the news spread,” he remarked.
I didn’t enter sanctum-sanctorm: CM

I did not enter the sanctum-sanctorm of the Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple. I had a darshan and
prayed to the deity from the outside,” Siddaramaiah reiterated on Monday. “It is true that I had fish and chicken for lunch in Mangaluru that day before visiting the Manjunatha temple. Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade insisted on me visiting the temple for a darshan.
So, I went to the temple and offered prayers from outside the sanctum-sanctorum. Even if I had entered the sanctumsanctorum, would that make the temple impure? A temple cannot be made impure,” the chief minister said.