Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah spelt out his priorities hours after resigning from his post on Thursday.
The 78-year-old Congress leader stated that he was not stepping away from active politics, and would continue to focus on the state rather than national politics, having declined a proposal from the party’s high command to move to the Rajya Sabha.
“I was asked to go to Rajya Sabha but I have politely told them that I cannot. I have interest in state politics. People have elected me for five years, there are another two years left. I will be here,” Siddaramaiah told reporters at a press conference.
A nine-time MLA, Siddaramaiah completed his first term as chief minister from 2013 to 2018. In his second term, he completed three years after taking oath in May 2023 before being asked
to resign to pave the way for deputy CM D K Shivakumar aka DKS, with whom a ‘tussle’ was ongoing for more than year.
With CM-designate DKS sitting next to him, Siddaramaiah said: “I was saying from before only that when the high command conveys, I will then tender my resignation. The high command asked me to submit my resignation. I have faith that once the Governor is back, he will accept it.”
Playing down his ‘rivalry’ with DKS, Siddaramaiah said that he was under no pressure and resigned ‘voluntarily’.
“I have resigned voluntarily. There was no pressure on me. The Congress Legislature Party and the high command will decide on the next chief minister. The Governor will take action through constitutional procedures. Soon, the people of the state will see a new chief minister.”
Siddaramaiah said he fulfilled all promises made to the people as the Karnataka chief minister.
“We have made a sincere effort to fulfil the promises made to the people of the state. We have not broken our word. This is something that has given me and our party satisfaction. They (Opposition) have spread misinformation about me, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They said that there will be no money for development work, and the treasury will be empty. After the guarantee was implemented, we are number 1 in the entire country in terms of income. We are second in GST collection. Maharashtra is number 1, Karnataka is number 2,” he claimed.