Will retire if proved I met BS Yediyurappa secretly: Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has thrown a challenge that if it is proved that he had met former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa secretly, he will retire from active politics.

"Last time I had met Yediyurappa was on his birthday. I have not met him since then. If former JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy proves that I met BSY, I will retire from politics. It is Kumaraswamy who meets BSY regularly," Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday night. Reacting to Congress leaders calling party president D.K. Shivakumar a collection agent, Siddaramaiah maintained that it is not possible.

"Kumaraswamy is raking up issues unnecessarily. He is falsely linking IT raids conducted on Yediyurappa's aides to me. He is targeting me as he is feeling threatened. I have seen many people like him in my political career. Kumaraswamy has entered politics much recently. I do not need lessons from him," he stated.

"Yediyurappa is a former CM - there is BJP government at the Centre and Amit Shah is the home minister - I am the leader of Opposition in Karnataka. Will Narendra Modi listen to me to raid the aides of BSY? I can only laugh at this joke," Siddaramaiah explained replying to the charges of Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy had said that IT raids were carried out as Yediyurappa met Siddaramaiah secretly to plan to weaken BJP in the State.