Chief Minister Siddaramaiah speaking to reporters at Mysuru airport on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has dismissed the BJP’s demand for a CBI probe into the recent violence in Ballari that claimed one life.
Fielding queries from reporters in Mysuru on Sunday, Mr. Siddaramaiah questioned the BJP’s moral right to demand a CBI probe into the Ballari episode when the saffron party, during its rule in the State, had failed to hand over even a single case demanded by then Opposition Congress to the Central agency.
On the contrary, Mr. Siddaramaiah said he as a Chief Minister had entrusted several cases to the CBI for investigation including the lottery scam and the Soujanya case.
Reacting to the BJP’s plan to launch an agitation over the Ballari issue, the Chief Minister said it was left to the Opposition to decide its course of protests, but the government will respond to it.
When his attention was drawn to BJP leaders B. Sriramulu and G. Janardhana Reddy attacking the Congress leaders, using allegedly disrespectful references, Mr. Siddaramaiah said it exposed the BJP’s political culture.
“Why did they earlier say that Mr. Janardhana Reddy should not come to Ballari? Who behaved as if it was a republic of Ballari? Justice Santosh Hegde had submitted a report when he was the Lokayukta,” he said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also recalled that Congress leaders were not given any space to campaign for their candidate in the Lok Sabha elections to Ballari during the BJP regime. He said he finally held a public meeting near a Kuruba community temple in Ballari.
“This one example is enough to show that they do not have faith in democracy, but they believed in dictatorship,” he said.
Claiming that the BJP did not believe in parliamentary system either, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Congress need not learn lessons from those who resorted to “goondagiri”.
Responding to the BJP’s allegation that the Congress had created a “Republic of Karnataka”, the Chief Minister said the Congress party believed in democracy, the Constitution, and its ideals.
He alleged that there was a political motive behind the BJP’s plan to hold an agitation in Ballari.
Reacting to BJP’s claim that the decision to convene a special session of the legislature was “political misuse”, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Constitution mandates that a joint session of the legislature should be convened in the new year.
Also, the session will demand the restoration of the MGNREGA that had been brought in by the UPA government by withdrawing the newly introduced VB-G RAM G Act.
With regard to the Lokayukta raid on Deputy Commissioner of Excise and his mention of Excise Minister’s name in an audio, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the government would not obstruct any legal proceedings in the matter.
The Chief Minister also remarked that Kempaiah, who was the president of the contractors’ association, had alleged that a 40% commission was being collected during the BJP regime.
Published – January 18, 2026 07:43 pm IST
