Daijiworld Media Network - Mysuru (SP)

Mysuru, May 28: "None of the Congress legislators including Ramesh Jarkiholi will leave our party. B S Yeddyurappa of the BJP had said that he would become the chief minister of Karnataka by June 1. He should make an announcement about his readiness to retire from politics if he fails to become chief minister by then," said chairman of the coalition government's coordination committee, Siddaramaiah.

Speaking to media persons here on Monday May 27, Siddaramiaah reasoned that there is no connection between the state government and Lok Sabha election. "The people have given their opinion about who should form government at the centre. They had voted in 2018 to decide who should rule Karnataka. Therefore, the Lok Sabha election result will in no way affect the state government," he explained.

Siddramaiah reiterated that he continues to harbour doubts about chances of hacking of electronic voting machines. He said that to get clarification, the issue will have to be discussed with experts in that field. At the same time, he hastened to add that he does not want to dismiss the will of the people.

On the issue of some Congress legislators having been seen in the company of BJP leaders at the residence of former chief minister, S M Krshna, he termed it as a matter of coincidence. "When MLA, K Sudhakar, went to meet Ramesh Jarkiholi, the latter was preparing to leave to S M Krishna's house. Therefore, Ramesh and Sudhakar together went there. At that time, Yeddyurappa, Ashok and Sumalatha Ambareesh were there. This is plain coincidence, nothing else," he stressed.

Siddaramaiah said that there is no proposal to reshuffle the state ministry. "There are three vacancies in the ministry. We will fill the vacancy created by the death if Shivalli. I do not know when the JD(S) will fill its quota of two seats. The news about reorganization of the ministry to appease disgruntled MLAs is false. We are not thinking on those lines."