CM Kumaraswamy says ‘ready to quit’, Congress MLAs crossing their line

Responding to comments from Congress MLAs in Karnataka that they still consider former Karnataka Chief Minister as their leader, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday announced that he was ‘ready to quit,’ raising doubts about the stability of the government yet again.

The CM was responding to a question posed by ANI about the remarks made by the Congress MLAs.

“Congress leaders have to watch all those issues, that is left to them. You have to ask them this. I am not the concerned person for those things. The same thing (If) they want to continue, I am ready to step down. Congress leaders— they must think about all these things..they have to control these things. They are crossing the line,” a visibly irate Kumaraswamy told news agency ANI.

#WATCH: Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy says "...If they want to continue with the same thing, I am ready to step down. They are crossing the line", when asked 'Congress MLAs are saying that Siddaramaiah is their CM'.' pic.twitter.com/qwErh4aEq4

— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2019

Some Congress MLAs and the loyalists of former CM Siddaramiah’s loyalists on Sunday had voiced support for Siddaramaiah, with one of them claiming that still for him, Siddaramaiah was still the CM.

To downplay the incident and suggest all was fine within the coalition partners, Siddaramiah, who is also the Chairman of the Coordination Committee between the Congress-JD(S), has lashed out the media.

“You (media) are the people who create trouble. You ask one person, then the second person and the third person. There is no trouble, I will speak to HD Kumaraswamy. We will control our MLAs. First of all, we have made a coalition government. JD(S) has got the CM post. There is no condition or no situation will arise that I am becoming the CM,” he told reporters.

The Opposition, BJP, which has been accused by the ruling coalition of trying to overthrow the government by using unfair means, cashed in on the opportunity.

In a tweet, the Karnataka unit of the BJP said, “CM @hd_kumaraswamy accepts interference of Congress to run the administration & offers to resign from the govt.Now that CM has openly accepted about infighting, he should stop blaming BJP & resign from govt. The greed for power of Cong-JDS has ruined the state administration.”

Sunday’s statements

ST Somashekhar, Congress MLA from Yeshwantpur, blamed the current government of being slow with developmental works. “It has been seven months since the coalition government came to power, but development works have not yet taken off. Bengaluru roads have not been developed,” Somasekhar, who was recently made the chairman of BDA, said at the inauguration of Kanaka Community Hall in Banashankari organised by the  Karnataka Pradesh Kuruba Sangha.

At the same event, Social welfare minister C Puttaranga Shetty, said, “Whatever you say, only Siddaramaiah is my chief minister. I cannot visualise anybody else in that position.”

Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress in-charge KC Venugopal has asked the state Congress to send a show cause notice to Somashekar seeking clarification