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Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah hopes the new government at the Centre headed by Narendra Modi would extend full cooperation to the state the same way as the UPA government to Karnataka. He also wished Modi best of luck in leading the NDA government at the Centre.“I wish Modi all the best and hope the ensuing NDA government will extend the same cooperation as the UPA government to Karnataka despite being in different political parties,” Siddaramaiah said.
Talking to reporters on the achievements of his government on completion of one year in office, he said a central government of any party would have to maintain healthy relations with states in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.“As part of the federal structure, the central government and states have to work in harmony for the country’s development. I don’t think our government will be discriminated just because we belong to Congress here,” Siddaramaiah observed.Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, for which polls were held on April 17, BJP won 17, Congress nine and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) two seats.The Election Commission pulled up Siddaramaiah for calling Modi ‘a mass murderer’ (nara-hanthaka) at every other political rally he addressed during the election campaign, in an oblique reference to the death of over 1,000 Muslims during the 2002 ethnic riots in Gujarat under the latter’s chief ministership.Modi, however, refrained from criticising Siddaramaiah but not spared the beleaguered
Congress and the Gandhis during his poll campaign.Asked if he agreed with political pundits’ observation that Karnataka was ‘cursed’ to be ruled by a party or an alliance not in power at the centre, an unfazed Siddaramaiah said his state was not an exception and it was common in a federal set-up.“We are all governed by a robust Constitution, which does not discriminate states on party lines and both the governments at the state and central level have to maintain its federal spirit,” the chief minister added.
