Outgoing speaker Koliwad attacks Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah lost from one of the two seats he contested and despite his eventual resignation, bad times for him appear here to stay.

PTI Photo

Bengaluru: Having faced flak from opposition leaders through the course of campaigning for the Karnataka elections, Siddaramaiah kept up a brave face. It all came down to nothing on Tuesday when Congress finished a distant second to BJP - forcing the party to offer unconditional support to JDS and leading to Siddaramaiah tendering his resignation. A day later, elements within his own party may have turned against him with outgoing Karnataka Assembly speaker KB Koliwad accusing him of high-handedness.

Koliwad, a senior Congress leader, called the former CM arrogant and even said many within the party were unable to voice their discontent with how he functioned. "Siddaramaiah thinks he is the boss of the party. The party has suffered because of his arrogant behaviour. He is not a true Congressman. Many people have this view of him but don't express it," he told news agency ANI.

While Koliwad himself lost the recent elections to an independent candidate, he said Congress finishing second was because of Siddaramaiah. According to local media reports, Koliwad even accused Siddaramaiah of mishandling Congress' campaign in the state and that he was responsible for limiting powers of several Congress bigwigs in the state.

Congress currently is in a tussle and despite having given unconditional support to JDS - a party that came third, has no surety on whether the combine will indeed form the next government. A Congress-JDS delegation on Wednesday submitted signed letters of support from 117 MLAs to the Governor who is now the man in focus and responsible for taking a call on who forms the next government here.