Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy kick-started the JD(S) campaign for the coming Assembly elections from Chamundeshwari constituency on Tuesday and sought the blessings of the electorate to become the Chief Minister again.

Addressing a large gathering at Lingadevarukoppal on the outskirts of Mysuru, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he was seeking their blessings to become Chief Minister again only to serve the people of the State. “I don’t want to become the Chief Minister for my own sake, but to solve the problems of the people of the State that have been ignored for the last 10 years by two successive governments”, he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy trained his guns on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for a good part of his speech. He blamed Mr. Siddaramaiah for not only doing precious little during his tenure, but also for quitting JD(S) and betraying former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda by joining the Congress just for the sake of becoming the Chief Minister.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said he would waive all farm loans if JD(S) was elected to power. Criticising Mr. Siddaramaiah for limiting the waiver to loans obtained from cooperative banks, he said it was possible for the Chief Minister to waive all farm loans including the ones obtained from nationalised banks.

Appeal to Veerashaivas

He also appealed to Veerashaivas and Kurubas to support his bid to become Chief Minister again. While urging the Veerashaivas to consider him as their own, Mr. Kumaraswamy referred to the campaign against him for not handing over power to BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa at the end of the 20-month tenure in 2008 and said he had been punished by the electorate for a wrong he did not commit. Mr. Yeddyurappa had himself disclosed that he was not denied the post of Chief Minister by Mr. Kumaraswamy, but by a conspiracy hatched by a section of BJP leaders including Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar.

Earlier, Mr. Kumaraswamy, accompanied by Mr. Deve Gowda, his mother Channamma, and his wife Anitha Kumaraswamy, offered special puja at Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills and set on the campaign trail titled “Kumara Parva” in a customised vehicle named Karnataka Vikasa Vahini.

The JD(S) leaders were accompanied by Chamundeshwari MLA G.T. Deve Gowda, former Minister A.H. Vishwanath and K.R. Nagar MLA S.R. Mahesh. The JD(S) leaders later offered puja at Jwalamukhi Tripura Sundari Amma Temple in Uttanahalli before proceeding to the venue of the public rally.