Seeking to put an end to the speculation over a possible change of Chief Minister in Karnataka, BJP national general secretary and State in-charge Arun Singh on Friday ruled out any such possibility. He even declared that the BJP would go to the next Assembly elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
“It is a ridiculous question (on whether Mr. Bommai would be replaced). Mr. Bommai is doing good work, especially for farmers and youth. There is no question of replacing him,” Mr. Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
“As the party general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, I would like to reiterate that the party would face the next Assembly elections under Mr. Bommai’s leadership. We are confident of winning the elections with full majority,” he remarked.
Taking exception to the Congress tweet that predicted that the Chief Minister would be changed, Mr. Singh said: “Speculation of leadership change is a ploy by the Opposition Congress that does not have any issues or agenda to take on the BJP.”
Alleging that top Congress leaders in Karnataka Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar were indulging in serious infighting, Mr. Singh said they had triggered speculation over leadership change to side-track their problems.
“The speculation was triggered by the Congress with meticulous planning. But there is no truth in it,” he said.
Launching a counter attack at the Congress, Mr. Singh said: “The Congress is a divided house. The leaders are not on the ground.”
He said the BJP had set a target of winning 150 of the total 224 Assembly seats in the forthcoming elections. “We are confident of achieving this,” he said.
It may be noted that the Congress had said that the recent visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the State and the subsequent developments were an indication of the BJP preparing to change the Chief Minister.
