Can Siddu deny role in Cong-JD(S) govt's collapse, asks Sudhakar

BENGALURU: Former Karnataka minister K Sudhakar on Wednesday asked whether former chief minister Siddaramaiah could deny the fact that he had no "direct or indirect role" in fanning rebellion among Congress MLAs during the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government.

K Sudhakar, who had defected to the BJP in 2019 also alleged that when the miffed MLAs, including him, had approached Siddaramaiah to complain about the injustice to them in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government led by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, the senior Congress leader had only fanned their rebellion.

"In 2018, whenever the MLAs went to Mr Siddaramaiah, who was the Chairman of the Coordination Committee, to complain about the injustice being done to us in the then JDS-Congress coalition government, he used to say that nothing is happening in this government, in my constituency, in my district," Sudhakar said in a tweet in Kannada.

"He [Siddaramaiah] was consoling the [miffed] MLAs that he would not allow this coalition government led by Kumaraswamy to remain for a single day after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," Sudhakar said in his series of tweets.

"To save the workers and leaders who believed in us in our constituencies, we took a big risk and resigned and once again got elected by the people and became ministers. Can Siddaramaiah deny that there was no direct or indirect role of Mr Siddaramaiah in our action [of defection] ?" he added.

Sudhakar was among the 14 Congress MLAs who defected to the BJP in 2019, helping the saffron party to wrest power from the JD(S)-Congress coalition government.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah along with Karnataka Congress State unit president DK Shivakumar is among the frontrunner for the next Karnataka Chief Minister.

According to party sources, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to reach Delhi today from Himachal Pradesh and is expected to meet some leaders who are part of the decision-making process in Karnataka.