Karnataka Ministers back Siddaramaiah amid demand for resignation

Bengaluru, Oct 10 (PTI) Karnataka Ministers on Thursday at a Cabinet meeting expressed their solidarity with and support to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is facing demand from opposition parties for his resignation following charges in MUDA site allotment case.

The move comes amid behind-the-scenes political activities within the ruling Congress, with a few Ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet recently holding closed door meetings, fueling speculation about leadership change.

"...even (Ministers) meeting Kharge (Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge) is being represented wrongly by you (meida), even if Ministers meet over food, it is also represented wrongly, in this backdrop during the cabinet today, all the ministers expressed their solidarity (with the CM) and support, stating that we are with him," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters..

According to some reports, the Congress high command has asked Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar to end the "flutters" about the change in leadership, while expressing displeasure over statements being made by a few ministers and some of them holding separate meetings.

Amid demand by opposition parties for Siddaramaiah to quit, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Sunday met Home Minister G Parameshwara, a senior leader from the SC community, in Tumakuru, after last week's meeting with Kharge in Delhi, leading to intense speculations in political circles over leadership change.

There was also a closed-door meeting between Jarkiholi, Parameshwara and Social Welfare Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa, who is also from SC community.

Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Parameshwara said: "I want to clarify that whether me or Satish Jarkiholi or Mahadevappa have never discussed the Chief Minister post. When media persons asked us we have said that he (Siddaramaiah) will remain CM. We have never said 'change CM' and make someone else. So I will personally not react now on, on the CM issue." On meetings with other ministers, he said: "if necessary we will meet, unnecessary we will not do dinner or political meetings. We have not done so far and will not do it further too...unnecessarily we are made to stand in the accused position, we are responsible people, we have responsibility, I'm a senior politician in our party." Siddaramaiah is facing the Lokayukta and ED probes into alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).

Siddaramaiah's wife, brother-in-law Mallikarjuna Swamy, Devaraju -- from whom Mallikarjuna Swamy purchased land and gifted it to Parvathi -- and others are named as other accused in the case by Lokayukta. PTI