DK Shivakumar: BJP wants to finish Siddaramaiah as he is ‘powerful mass leader’

Implying that BJP’s blame tactics to malign Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as they were afraid of his popularity, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Friday that the BJP was trying to finish the Chief Minister politically because he is a powerful popular leader.
“Siddaramaiah is a powerful mass leader. The BJP is trying to finish all strong mass leaders from Opposition parties across the country including him,” Shivakumar said, addressing the media at his residence in Sadashivanagar, Bengaluru.
Shivakumar’s comment comes a day after Siddaramaiah made similar remarks about BJP’s strategy to “eliminate” anyone who criticised their party.
Siddaramaiah, on Thursday, had spoken up about BJP’s alleged plans to dismantle the Congress by discrediting him.
Siddaramaiah had also accused the BJP of trying to “eliminate” anyone who criticises the party. “They have gone to the extent of trying to eliminate anyone who criticises them. I have been criticising Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, so they want to finish off Siddaramaiah. Their thinking is, ‘If we finish off Siddaramaiah, we can finish off Congress in Karnataka’,” he said.
The Chief Minister had made this comment while speaking at a campaign rally at Bellary for the upcoming Sandur assembly constituency by-election.
Siddaramaiah also accused BJP of creating false cases and exploiting central agencies.
“They didn’t do any other work, they filed fake cases against me, and they even filed fake cases against (B) Nagendra. All they do is file fake cases and misuse Income Tax and ED officials.”
B Nagendra is the former cabinet minister who stepped down after the Enforcement Directorate named him the mastermind behind the irregularities in the Scheduled Tribes Valmiki Development Corporation.