BENGALURU: AMID the buzz over Cabinet reshuffle, Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara said on Monday that he had not asked for a change in portfolio or discussed anything related to it with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru, the Home Minister rubbished reports in some sections of media that he had asked for a change in portfolio. He requested the media to exercise restraint and not to speculate on such issues.
“I have never asked the Chief Minister for a particular portfolio. It is false (media reports),” Dr Parameshwara said and asked his supporters and people in his constituency not to pay heed to such speculation.
The Home Minister said that they were all pained by the stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in which 11 people lost their lives.
“It should not have happened. These are all challenges for us. We have to face them... not run away like cowards. In such a situation, I have not asked anything (related to portfolio change) and not spoken about it with the CM,” the Home Minister said.
Dr Parameshwara refused to speak about the stampede during the RCB’s IPL victory celebrations in Bengaluru as the government has handed over the probe to a one-man commission headed by retired High Court Judge Justice Michael D’Cunha. If the commission asks them, they will give their statements, he said, refusing to respond to questions over the government’s failures.
The Home Minister said he was not called to New Delhi by the party’s high command.
He, however, said that the AICC General Secretary spoke to him over the phone and the party Central leaders get information about the developments in the state from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar.