Ministers Santosh Lad, Ramalinga Reddy rule out resignation of Karnataka CM

A file photo of Law Minister H. K. Patil, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, and Home Minister G. Parameshwara.
| Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K

An hour after the High Court ruling, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar said the opposition BJP has hatched a ‘political conspiracy’ against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

“We will stand by him. The Chief Minister and his family had made no mistake,” said Mr Shivakumar, who is also president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. “The Chief Minister will come out clean after the investigation. I will give a detailed reply after reading the High Court judgment”.

“The BJP is not able to tolerate the good work, commitment and contributions of the Chief Minister to Karnataka, and the country….The BJP had hatched conspiracy against me too in the past,” the Deputy CM said.

In their first reactions, Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy ruled out resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. They said that the party high command has strongly backed his leadership.

The Ministers were reacting on September 24 to the Karnataka High Court dismissing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging the legality of Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s approval for an investigation against him in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case.

Mr Lad said the ruling was limited only to the sanction of prosecution against the Chief Minister by the Governor. The High Court ruling was not related to the alleged illegalities in the allotment of 14 MUDA sites.

Mr Reddy too backed the leadership of Mr Siddaramaiah and said the question of his resignation does not arise.

“The opposition BJP has been attempting to destabilise the Congress government in Karnataka, which has 135 MLAs,” said Mr. Lad. AICC general secretaries Randeep Singh Surjewala (in-charge of Karnataka) and K. C. Venugopal came to Bengaluru and strongly defended the leadership of the Chief Minister. “There is no question of Mr Siddaramaiah resigning. The BJP has no moral right to seek the CM’s resignation,” Mr Lad said.