LS poll results will have bearing on CM's continuation in post, hints minister

Kolar : Indicating that the Lok Sabha poll results will have a bearing on Siddaramaiah's continuation as chief minister of Karnataka, Minister Byrathi Suresh on Thursday warned that voting for opposition candidates poses a threat to the CM's position.

"(Let your votes) be in favour of Congress, Siddaramaiah and (K V) Gowtham (Kolar Lok Sabha candidate). In case you change your mind and make another candidate win, there will be a threat to Siddaramaiah's (CM) seat. So, I request for your support," Suresh said at a meeting of leaders of the Kuruba community to which Siddaramaiah belongs. He said, "By voting for Gowtham, you are also voting for Siddaramaiah's leadership."

The statements gain significance amid persistent rumours about a leadership change in the ruling Congress in the state after the Lok Sabha polls, or midway of the current assembly's tenure. Amid such speculations, Siddaramaiah had recently asked the people of his Varuna assembly segment to give the Congress candidate a lead of at least 60,000 votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, to ensure that he remains in the post of chief minister.

On the same day in Mandya, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress President D K Shivakumar, who has made no secret about his chief ministerial ambitions, told the people that the desire with which they supported the party in the assembly poll in May last year, keeping him in mind, "will not turn out to be false."

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief minister's post after the assembly election results were declared in May last year. The Congress leadership then managed to convince Shivakumar to take up the deputy chief minister's post.