G Parameshwara, a Dalit leader and the Congress' Karnataka unit chief for 8 years, says it is for the Congress legislature party to decide who will be the next chief minister of the state
A Dalit leader and the Congress party’s Karnataka unit chief for eight years now, G Parameshwara has never hidden his chief ministerial ambitions. He was a CM aspirant in 2013, too, but failed to win his Assembly seat of Koratagere.
A state-level sprinter with a doctorate in agriculture from University of Adelaide, Australia, Parameshwara, 66, was the home minister of Karnataka from 2015 to 2017. And this time, he could emerge as a key contender for the top elected post in the state if the Congress fails to win a simple majority but comes to power by forming a coalition.
It will, however, be the Congress Legislative Party’s call to decide who will be the next chief minister of Karnataka, Parameshwara tells Bibhu Ranjan Mishra and Archis Mohan in an interview. Edited excerpts:
What is your assessment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaigning in Karnataka?
The prime minister has not come here with any positive agenda for Karnataka. He has said little about what his government has done for the state in the four years at the Centre. Has there been any special package (announced for the state)? Is there any irrigation project, or any other big project, or national-level project? He has not mentioned anything.
Moreover, the PM has not proposed any new projects, either. He barely has a year left in office. What can he do? Of the precious little he can do, he has said he will see that five river projects will be taken up. (Karnataka election)Please tell us which river projects he is talking about. The existing river water-sharing projects are in a shambles. We have the Mahadayi river issue. It is not resolved. We have Cauvery. It is not resolved. This is despite the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal having given its final judgement. The PM could have just called the three chief ministers and said: “Look this is a drinking water issue, and not an irrigation issue, so please resolve this amicably, and this is the formula that the Government of India has worked out; you follow it.”
This is exactly what Indira Gandhi had accomplished with the Cauvery water issue for the Chennai city. I don’t think Modi has come to Karnataka with any positivity. Let him (Modi) come here a hundred times. The people are with us. They know what he has done, and they also know what we have achieved.
The PM has questioned Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah contesting from two seats? Do you think that decision of the Congress party has given political rivals an opportunity to embarrass your party?
Let me ask the PM: Where is the justification in him raising the issue when he himself contested from two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections? He lacks the credibility to ask that question.
But the move has led to a perception that Siddaramaiah is nervous about the Chamundeshwari seat, so he is contesting from Badami as well…
Fair enough. But what has that go to do with the BJP. It is the Congress party’s decision. I was afraid that everyone would get together and defeat me, so I wanted to go contest from another seat – what is wrong in that? It is our internal party matter.
If our high command did not want… it would have said that we (the Siddaramaiah government) ran the government (in Karnataka) for five years; now why was he is contesting from two seats? That question should have been asked by our high command, not you (the PM).
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