BENGALURU/MANGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday hit back at Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah for the latter’s comments on leadership change in the state after the bypoll results.
“Siddaramaiah should stop making such irresponsible statements. Shall I say I have got information from Delhi that they want to change Siddaramaiah,” the CM asked, responding to Siddaramaiah’s remarks that he has information from Delhi that the CM would be changed.
In Mangaluru, Yediyurappa said that the Congress, which went to the two Assembly bypolls under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, will suffer its worst defeat in both Sira and Rajarajeshwari Nagar and also MLC elections to teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies.
The BJP will win with a thumping majority, he asserted. Then, the high command of Siddaramaiah’s party will decide who should resign, he said sarcastically. Earlier in Bengaluru, before leaving for Mangaluru, he termed Siddaramaiah’s remarks as irresponsible. “He has been making such statements repeatedly. When we win both (Assembly bypoll) seats, our party will emerge more powerful.
Let Siddaramiah save his chair and not make such irresponsible statements,” the CM said. Siddaramaiah had said that he got information from Delhi that the BJP will change the CM after the bypoll results. “I am confident about it,’’ the former CM had tweeted.
Cabinet expansion Yediyurappa said he spoke to BJP national president JP Nadda on Tuesday over phone on cabinet expansion “If needed, I will go to Delhi,” he said. At present, six berths are vacant in the Yediyurappa cabinet, and the CM is keen on allotting them to leaders who switched from Congress to BJP to help the saffron party form the government last year.
The leaders who are waiting for cabinet berths are MTB Nagaraj, Vishwanath, R Shankar and Munirathna. The CM also wants to reserve one berth to Prathap Gowda Patil of Maski, sources said. While the BJP high command in Delhi is keen on giving opportunities to new faces who are BJP loyalists, Yediyurappa reportedly told Nadda that the leaders who joined the BJP from Congress should be considered for ministerial positions. He also told Nadda that the cabinet expansion has been delayed for over six months.