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Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday lauded Chief Minsiter Siddaramaiah for completing 2,792 days in office, calling him a "modern-day leader" who has delivered good governance and upheld the Congress party's ideology of social justice and development. Parameshwara, in an exclusive interview with ANI, noted that only former Chief Minister Devaraj Urs had achieved a similar tenure earlier.
"I would like to congratulate Siddaramaiah ji on completing 2792 days in office (as the CM). Only Shri Devaraj Urs (former Karnataka CM) had that before. Both the great leaders were given an opportunity by the Congress party to serve the people under its ideology. And that ideology to serve the poor and at the same time develop the state and the country. And this is kind of a bigger contribution by great leaders, both of them. In both cases, there might have been criticism, but these two leaders did extremely well. I consider both of them as great leaders. And Siddaramaiah ji is a modern-day leader. Any state needs to give good governance, and Siddaramaiah ji has done so," he said. Responding to remarks by JD(S) leader and Union Mnister HD Kumaraswamy, Parameshwara dismissed suggestions about the Congress's future. "Congress will never go away from India & Karnataka. He is just talking about such things to survive," Parameshwara said, pointing out that the party has endured for 138 years. "Congress brought social justice, development and social change. Congress laid the foundation," he added, asserting that both the BJP and JD(S) should introspect instead. "BJP and JD(S) are broken houses. They should talk about their own houses before they talk about Congress," he remarked. On Siddaramaiah's statement expressing hope on continuing as Chief Minister for a full five-year term, Parameshwara said the decision rests with the party leadership. "If the (party) High Command decides that Siddaramaiah ji will continue for the full term, then everyone has to accept it. Who can question the High Command's decision?" he said. Emphasising party discipline, Parameshwara appealed to leaders to put the organisation first. "Congress believes in sacrifices - from the first Prime Minister till today. The Party comes first, everything else comes second," he said. Addressing the recent Ballari violence and the BJP seeking a CBI enquiry, the Home Minister asserted that the situation was under control. "Incidents happen every day. We in the government know whether or not we are capable of handling a situation. If we are comfortable handling a situation, we don't even consider other agencies. The Karnataka Police and the state government are capable of handling such situations. Right now, there is no necessity to hand over the case to any other agency...BJP is trying to blow such situations out of proportion," he said. On his own chief ministerial ambitions, Parameshwara said, "It is all left to the party high command. We look to them for any directions. It is not your wish, but the high command decides it." (ANI)
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