A day after talks with Congress central leaders, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ruled out a change of leadership in the State and asserted that he would continue as Chief Minister till the end of the term.
“Our [Congress] government will complete its five-year term. I am the Chief Minister now and I will continue,” he told presspersons at Hosapete.
The Chief Minister’s assertion came a day after AICC general secretaries Randeep Singh Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal met with the Chief Minister and KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said his government was stable and would not collapse, dismissing claims made by a section of BJP leaders that the government would fall after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP MLA and former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi had said that the Congress government would collapse in the same way as the Uddhav Thackeray-led dispensation did in Maharashtra.
Signalling to investors
Apparently, Mr. Siddaramaiah has also been signalling to investors that the Congress government, under his leadership, was stable and investment-friendly.
A few days ago, Kaynes Technologies India Ltd. shifted its ₹2,800 crore OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) plant construction from Mysuru to Telangana.
Mr. Siddaramaiah was on his way to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi to flag off the Karnataka Sambhrama-50, a year-long celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of renaming of the Sate as Karnataka.
On more Dy.CM posts
To a question, Mr. Siddaramaiah dismissed the possibility of creating three Deputy Chief Minister posts.
“Decisions on such matters are taken by the party high command. The Congress is not a regional party but a national party. We cannot take any decision on matters without a discussion with the high command,” he said.
On Operation Lotus
On BJP leaders predicting the collapse of the government, Mr. Siddaramaiah said: “They [BJP] have lost the elections and are making baseless statements as they are without any work. The people of the State have blessed us with 136 seats in the Assembly elections. We will give a stable government for a full five years. They had once succeeded by indulging in Operation Lotus. They are attempting it again and they won’t be successful.”
