Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Wednesday, claimed that former Karnataka CM and Congress leader Siddaramaiah is being "misled" to contest from Kolar, and he will lose if contests from that seat in the upcoming state assembly elections.
Speaking to the media in Kolar, Sudhakar said, "Some local leaders in the district are trying to bring Siddaramaiah to contest in Kolar for their own benefit. According to me ultimately Siddaramaiah will not contest in Kolar and will chose Varuna."
"We will work hard and try to win in all constituencies of Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Bengaluru Rural districts. Even if Siddaramaiah contests in Kolar we will ensure our party candidate will win here," he added.
He said that he quit the Congress party because he was upset with Congress entering an "unholy" alliance with JDS.
READ | Karnataka Health Min slams Oppn for giving political angle to COVID advisory
"Siddaramaiah very well knows the reason why I quit Congress. I was upset when Congress entered into an unholy alliance with JDS. I joined BJP with a commitment to principles and ideology and not for greed of power," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Siddaramaiah very well knows the reason why I quit Congress. I was upset when Congress entered into an unholy alliance with JDS. I joined BJP with a commitment to principles and ideology and not for greed of power," he said.
{{/usCountry}}He accused Siddaramaiah of wasting his political career by joining Congress for the "sake of power".
"When the Congress-JDS alliance govt was formed in 2018, Siddaramaiah had vowed that HD Kumaraswamy will not be allowed to continue as CM even for a single day after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But later he got ready to let him rule for five years. That's when I decided to quit Congress. People of Chikkaballapur respected my decision and voted for me in the bypolls," Sudhakar said.
READ | BF.7 variant shows low virulence, but children, old must be cautious: Karnataka Min
Reacting to the CAG report, the Karnataka minister has said that the report has pointed out financial irregularities of about ₹35,000 crores between 2013-18.
"As far as Congress' allegations on Covid spending is concerned, it is grossly false and baseless. I have replied to each and every allegation on the floor of the house but Congress had no face to listen to truth and ran away from the house. I am ready to release a white paper on Covid management expenditure. Our government has restored Lokayukta with full powers. If they have proof they should complain to Lokayukta," he further said.
Reacting to Anil Antony's resignation from Congress, Sudhakar said that the episode has "exposed" Congress.
"Anil Antony had tweeted about the BBC documentary in the interest of the nation. Congress could not digest this because he took pro-India stand. The way Congress behaved with him leading to his resignation from the party has exposed Congress' double standards on freedom of speech," he said.