Lok Sabha poll setback will mean Siddu's exit, warns Congress MLA

Bengaluru: Congress lawmaker S R Srinivas (Vasu), a former minister, has said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will have to "own moral responsibility and resign" if the party fails to win the highest number of Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Srinivas' remarks has poured fuel into speculation about a possible change in leadership after the Lok Sabha elections. He is not the first Congress leader to speculate on these lines.

"We are in government today. If we don't win the highest number of seats, then Siddaramaiah will have to own moral responsibility and resign," Srinivas, the Gubbi MLA, said at a campaign event in the Tumkur Lok Sabha constituency. "For that reason, we all need to save Siddaramaiah, who is honestly working for the poor and oppressed," Srinivas added.

Declining to comment, Siddaramaiah said: "I don't know in what context (Srinivas) said that. I will look into the context and then react."

Earlier this year, Siddaramaiah's son Dr Yathindra said his father can complete a full five-year term "without any hindrance" if Congress wins a good number of Lok Sabha seats in the state.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Srinivas' fellow Congress lawmaker from Tumakuru and Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna has said more than once that it would become difficult for the party to continue in power if the Lok Sabha results are not good.