Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah continued to meet disgruntled Congress MLAs and other leaders today, even as his senior party colleagues went into damage control mode after his remarks doubting the longevity of the coalition government with JDS.
A day after a video showing him purportedly expressing doubts about the longevity of the JDS-Congress government in Karnataka surfaced, several MLAs met him at a nature care hospital in Dharmastala where is undergoing treatment.
As Siddaramaiah confabulated with MLAs and other leaders, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge were in a damage control mode, projecting that all was well in the coalition government.
In an apparent counter to Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara, who is also the Pradesh Congress chief, said the coalition government would complete its full five-year term and what others were talking outside was "irrelevant".
Kharge said he would meet the former Chief Minister and ask him in what context he spoke in that manner.
Another senior Congress leader and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar his party's support to the coalition government was for a full five year term. Some mischief-makers" had released a video of internal informal talks, he said, adding, it was not official.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who was preoccupied with pre-budget meetings, did not make any comments on the raging issue.
His father and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, however, asserted that his son would present the budget on July 5 as per schedule and there would be no danger to his government.
"There will be no danger to the government. There is anxiety among you (the media)...now go back with satisfaction," Gowda told reporters in New Delhi.
Gowda was in Delhi to attend the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, of which he is a member.
However, his visit to the national capital had fuelled speculation that he may be meeting senior Congress leaders, which the former Prime Minister rejected.
Those who met Siddaramaiah included ministers Ramesh Jarkiholi and Shivananda Patil, MP B V Naik, MLAs Narayan Rao, Pratap Gouda, Nagendra and also former minister T B Jayachandra.
Almost all of those who met Siddaramaiah said they had come to enquire about the health of their "leader" and no politics was discussed during the meet.
Siddaramaiah is scheduled to return to Bengaluru tomorrow after twelve days of treatment.
A video showing Siddaramaiah, who is also the chairman of Congress-JD(S) coordination committee purportedly expressing doubts about the longevity of the JDS-Congress government had surfaced yesterday, adding to the strains in the coalition.
The video had surfaced, two days after another video clip purportedly showing Siddaramiah expressing his displeasure to a few Congress MLAs over presentation of a fresh budget had emerged.
Differences have cropped up between the Congress and JDS on a host of issues, including presentation of the budget. Siddaramaiah had recently said there was no need for a fresh budget and insisted that a supplementary budget would do.
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