Karnataka Crisis: Siddaramaiah rubbishes reports that he instigated rebels to bring down coalition government

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday rubbished reports he had instigated the rebels to resign and destabilise the coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.

Cautioning media houses against peddling "false news", Siddaramaiah said he would give them a befitting reply if they repeat the allegation in front of him.

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In a series of tweets, the Congress strongman in Karnataka said the rebels were trying to "shift the blame on me but the facts would surface once the dust settles."

He said, "The rebel MLAs are trying to shift the blame on me after a widespread public backlash against them for betraying and back-stabbing both the electorate and the party. Everything will be clear when the dust settles but by then they would have bitten the dust."

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Recalling his days as chief minister, Siddaramaiah said there were many baseless allegations against him - "a venom he digested to serve people with good intent."

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As the coordination committee chairman of the coalition government, Siddaramaiah was charged with not letting the JDS and the Congress state presidents to be part of the penal led by him. The JDS state president-turned-rebel MLA A H Vishwanath had been targeting Siddaramaiah for not bringing out the common minimum programme as agreed upon by the two parties at the time of forming the coalition government.

Vishwanath had also charged him with betraying JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda by making him trust the Congress during the Lok Sabha election and then working for his defeat from the Tumkur constituency at the fag end of his political career at the age of 87.