BENGALURU: With the Karnataka High Court on Thursday set to resume hearing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s petition challenging Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s sanction to prosecute him in the MUDA case, opposition BJP and JDS plan to harp on the outcome in the court, even as Congress circles are rife with rumours that there could be a change of guard.
Within Congress, there is talk that the chief minister could be changed based on the outcome of the high court hearing. What led to the rumours is the fact that the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal held a one-on-one talk with Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara during the latter’s visit to New Delhi on August 23. But a Congress leader said, “It seems to be just a casual talk and nothing to do with changing the CM. We will back Siddaramaiah as CM, regardless of the outcome in the court.”
But still, the party is abuzz with the talk that Parameshwara, PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar or AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge could be asked to step in if Siddaramaiah has to resign if an FIR is registered against him.
Parameshwara on Wednesday said, “I am a disciplined soldier of the party and I honestly did the task assigned to me by the party. It is true that Rahul called me separately and told me what he had to say about the party. He did not tell me anything else. I may be a senior in the party, but that question did not arise.”
He hoped that the HC will not consider the governor’s decision as there is no material evidence against the CM, who has not signed any documents related to the case.
