Karnataka Assembly polls 2013: Moily not in CM race

Zeenews Bureau

Bangalore: Ruling himself out for the post of Karnataka chief minister, Union Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on Friday highlighted his contribution to the poll-bound state. The senior Congress leader said that the Congress will support its state unit for the upcoming May 5 Assembly election, adding that he has a role to play in this. “My role in Karnataka is not becoming the chief minister as I am not the candidate,” Moily said. Ahead of the election the Congress party usually doesn’t name the chief ministerial candidate, and Moily said that projecting Amarinder Singh in Punjab was a mistake. “The problems of Congress are its liability but it’s also the party’s advantage. The party has no crisis of leadership,” Moily said. Listing his own contributions, the former Karnataka chief minister highlighted the Vijaynagar steel plant, Mangalore refineries, International Technology Park, Common Entrance Test for medical and engineering colleges, cargo complex at the international airport, natural gas connectivity and Almatti Dam on Krishna river. Adding that the bill seeking special development status to the Hyderabad-Karnataka region came when he was the head of the Law Ministry, and also claimed that he laid the foundation of the IT industry in Bangalore as Small Scale Industry minister between 1974 and 1977. Predicting that the BJP will lose in the upcoming Assembly election, Moily said that due to the poor governance under the state BJP, several development programmes failed which were drafted by the UPA government. Notwithstanding the claims by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s party JD(S), Moily made clear that the Congress will back the state in Cauvery, Krishna disputes.