During an interaction with the media in Bangalore, the chief minister said he had no regrets over his decision and his conscience was clear But, after a few minutes, he said he was ready to undergo any punishment if he had committed any mistake by not transferring power to the BJP.

Similarly, he said Mr B S Yediyurappa and two other BJP ministers met him before the Cabinet meeting on October 1, asking him to hand over power. But he later said none of the BJP leaders approached him to discuss the issue.  “Nobody asked me to transfer power. The BJP communicated only through the media. Being a senior leader, Mr Yashwant Sinha should have called me over phone for at least courtesy’s sake,” he stated.

He argued that he never spoke of not tendering resignation from the CM’s post. “I waited till October 6 for them to come to me for discussions. But they didn’t,” he said. But he later contradicted himself again saying that he had decided not to hand over the baton in the interest of people of the State. On his meeting the governor, he told reporters earlier in the morning that he would request the governor for an opportunity to prove his majority.

 But, surprisingly, he told the media later in the day that he just wanted to inform the House about the “misdeeds” of the BJP.

‘Conspiracy in BJP’
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters after a JD(S) Legislature Party meeting, Mr Kumaraswamy alleged that it was the conspiracy of BJP national leaders to ensure that Mr Yediyurappa doesn’t become the CM. “The agreement on power sharing was between State BJP leaders and the JD(S). But national leaders came into the picture to negotiate with the JD(S),” he stated. He further said: “National leaders of BJP were not in favour of negotiations as they wished not to have Mr Yediyurappa as CM. A BJP leader from the State, who is active at the national level, played a major role in all these developments. Yediyurappa himself will understand this if he reviews developments in a relaxed mood.”

He said the JD(S) had decided to travel across the State to convince people about the party stand on power transfer.

Later in the evening, the chief minister held a meeting with his father and JD(S) president H D Deve Gowda.