Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said there was no threat to his party, playing down the open revolt that broke out in the Congress party's state unit after 14 ministers were dropped.
There is no threat to my government or party. I will speak to all the unhappy MLAs who have been dropped," Siddaramaiah told News18 over the phone from Bengaluru.
He said there were 123 aspirants for 34 cabinet berths and that he had to drop some MLAs and and induct new faces.
"There is nothing personal about it. My new cabinet looks more cohesive. I have given representation to all major castes and regions in the state. The desperate opposition parties like BJP and JDS are trying to exploit the situation by creating a hype. I refuse to admit that there is a revolt," he said.
After Siddaramaiah dropped 14 ministers to induct 13 new faces into his Cabinet on Sunday, angry supporters of the sacked ministers have hit the streets damaging public property and blocking roads, including in state capital Bengaluru.
One high-profile party leader, Kannada film actor Ambareesh, quit as MLA though this is yet to be accepted by the Speaker. The "Rebel Star" has given enough indications of quitting the party.
Launching an all-out attack on Siddaramaiah, he said, "I am not an ordinary fellow, that he can throw me away like a chappal (slipper). There should be some dignity in how I am treated. If I was called and told I will be dropped, I would have been happy. The Chief Minister is an ambitious man. He did not show the courtesy."
He requested his angry fans, who blocked main roads in Mandya district, not to inconvenience the public. He said that he was not in touch with other rebel MLAs. However, he admitted that opposition parties are holding talks with him, though he is not joining any of them. Both the BJP and JDS have already invited him to join them.
Siddaramaiah refused to react to Ambareesh's outbursts against him. V Srinivasa Prasad, who is also a Dalit leader from Mysuru like Siddaramaiah, accused the Chief Minister of betrayal.
"Siddaramaiah should have been removed from the chair of chief minister. He has been a disaster as CM. He has betrayed me. He did not have even the basic courtesy to inform me before dropping me. I will see how he will win the next election," Prasad told News18.
BJP leaders have already met him in Mysuru to persuade him to join the saffron party. The JDS has also approached him.
Siddaramaiah, who came to power in May 2013, reshuffled his Cabinet for the first time in three years, dropping veterans like Srinivasa Prasad, Ambareesh, Dinesh Gundurao, Vinay Kumar Sorake, S Shivashankarappa and others. He inducted party stalwarts like Kagodu Thimmappa, Ramesh Kumar and nearly a dozen others to prepare the Congress for the Assembly elections due in early 2018.
The BJP, led by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, and the JDS, led by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, are using this to take revenge on their common enemy.
Deve Gowda told News18, "I am not doing anything to topple the Congress government. It is their own creation. We welcome whoever wants to join us."
Yeddyurappa said the BJP was not in touch with any rebel MLAs and that he was not interested in engineering defections.
The party leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are away from the country has worsened the situation for the Congress. After its debacle in the recent five-state Assembly elections, Congress is now left with only Karnataka and a few smaller states. If it fails to douse the flames of dissidence, it can submerge the entire party, feels veteran journalist Ramakrishna Upadhya.
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