Mangaluru: “If Congress party has to survive, then a person belonging to Dalit community has to be made the chief minister,” Congress senior leader B Janardhana Poojary said. He told reporters on Thursday: “Home Minister G Parameshwara is the right candidate for the chief minister’s post and people too will love to have him as the chief minister. But some leaders in the party are doing circus to stop him from becoming the chief minister. There is Shani Kaata within the party.”

He also said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been ignoring the party workers though they built the party. “He has been ignoring the original Congressmen,” Poojary criticised. Citing a TV channel’s report, he said that the US is preparing itself for the World War III and if it happens, then India will be nowhere. “At a time when the US and China are building bunkers to survive, India is doing nothing,” he said.

To a query on budget, Poojary said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is trying to satisfy all. “But no government can satisfy all,” he said. He said 130 taluks in the state have been declared as drought-hit. The state has not received any significant contribution from the Centre for drought relief though it has a number of elected parliamentarians, he criticised.