Safety first

After being targeted by the BJP, the JD(S) and detractors within the Congress, Siddaramaiah is eyeing a 'safe seat' to keep his chief ministerial dreams alive

- PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR

A CIVIL COURT in Bengaluru passed a restraining order on January 9, staying the publishing, sale and display of the book, Siddu Nija Kanasugalu (Siddu’s real dreams), which is said to be critical of former chief minister Siddaramaiah. The order came just a few minutes before the book’s official launch by Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, after the court took up a petition filed by Siddaramaiah’s son and Varuna MLA Yathindra who had alleged the book had “defamatory” content. The title of the book is similar to another controversial book, Tippu Nija Kanasugalu, by Addanda C. Cariappa and it is suspected that it targets Siddaramaiah’s brand of ‘Ahinda’ politics which relies on minorities, dalits and OBCs.

Siddaramaiah has reasons to worry as he has constantly been the target of both the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular). After his ouster from the JD(S) in 2005, Siddaramaiah’s growing animosity with JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda cost him dearly. It antagonised the Vokkaliga community that dominates the Old Mysuru region. Siddaramaiah’s defeat in the Chamundeshwari assembly constituency in 2018, his home turf where he had won five times in the past, was a fallout of his souring relations with Deve Gowda.