BENGALURU: At a time when allegations are flying that the recent trouble in Karnataka Congress was because of its leader Siddaramaiah , the former chief minister’s camp hit back on Sunday to criticise the HD Kumaraswamy-led government.Siddaramaiah’s supporters hailed him at an event here where he was present with Congress minister C Puttaranga Shetty going to the extent of saying that he still considers his leader the CM.Attacking the coalition government, Congress MLA ST Somashekhar said: “It is seven months since the coalition government came to power, but development work has not yet taken off.”“Had Siddaramaiah got another five-year term, we would have seen real development,” said Somashekhar.Siddaramaiah endorsed his acolyte’s comment saying he would have completed the development work his government had taken up if he had got another term as chief minister. He claimed his political rivals defeated him. “They indulged in a smear campaign and engineered my defeat as they were jealous of me,” Siddaramaiah said.Praising the former CM, social welfare minister C Puttaranga Shetty said: “Whatever you say, only Siddaramaiah is my chief minster... I cannot imagine anybody else in that position.”Seeking to downplay the issue, JD(S) president HD Deve Gowda said difference of opinion is natural in coalition politics and he would not pay heed to it. “I choose not to react to this. These things happen when you are in coalition politics,” he said.