"Media twisting, tarnish my image":Karnataka Congress MLA BR Patil denies rift claims

Congress MLA BR Patil on Wednesday issued a clarification over his "luck lottery" remarks about Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and stated that the latter was elevated to the top post based on his "mass leadership". The clarification came amid speculation of a power tussle in the Karnataka unit of the Congress after the party formed the government in the State in 2023. Siddaramiah is the current Chief Minister, and DK Shivakumar is the Deputy Chief Minister.

In a self-recorded video message, Patil said, "Electronic media and social media are twisting my statements and trying to tarnish my image. When I was speaking to one of my close friends in Krishnaraja Pete, Siddaramaiah's name came up, and I said he was lucky that he became the Chief Minister. I did not say that I introduced him (Siddaramaiah) to Sonia Gandhi. I was with him when we met Sonia Gandhi. He is a mass leader, and I'm not powerful enough to make him the Chief Minister". "Some are trying to break our close relationship intentionally. Nine of our MLAs in the leadership of Siddaramaiah joined the Congress from JD(S), Congress also made him the Chief Minister by looking at his mass leadership..."

Speaking to reporters in Manday a day earlier, Patil said that he was among the eight legislators who had switched over to Congress from JDS: "Some are ministers. Siddaramaiah became the Chief Minister after winning the lucky lottery". Reacting to the three-day visit of Randeep Surjewala, AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka, he said, "Surjewala had come because of the discord in the state. He had called me to know what the pain of the MLAs was. I spoke for 45 minutes. I have provided all the details and taken all the necessary notes. They have considered it seriously, and what action they will take next is up to them".

He also said that the Party high command will take the call for the change of guard in Karnataka. "The change of CM is up to the high command. I don't know if DK Shivakumar will become CM. Surjewala has not spoken about the issue of leadership. There are some issues with Siddaramaiah. There are issues with giving grants. We have also informed the high command. We need a godfather in politics".

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday clarified that the dicussions held during the recently concluded meeting of Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala with party MLAs were not about cabinet reshuffle, but instead it was concerned with organisational aspects of the party. "AICC general secretaries are meeting to discuss party organisation issues and accept requests from MLAs, but there is no discussion about changing the CM or expanding the cabinet," Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, said (ANI)

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