Bommai, Siddaramaiah in verbal duel over ‘defections’ to Congress

Even as the Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah has claimed that several BJP and JD(S) leaders were in touch with him to join Congress, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday rubbished these claims.

Speaking to mediapersons, Siddaramaiah reiterated that there were a few BJP and JD(S) leaders in touch with him to join the Congress. “Whoever wants to join Congress by agreeing to the party ideology is welcome. I have not voluntarily reached out to anyone but have interacted with everyone who has gotten in touch with me,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a retort to Siddaramaiah’s claims that some BJP leaders wanted to the Congress, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai dismissed it as “lies”. Siddaramaiah claimed earlier that some leaders were in touch with him and that they would join soon. Now he is saying they will join ahead of elections. When he was asked who these leaders were, he didn’t have an answer. This only shows that it’s a lie, Bommai said.

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“There are more chances of Congress leaders quitting the party owing to so many internal conflicts there. No one will join Congress. There are likely chances that more people will quit Congress. After the upcoming elections in five states across the country, Congress will become irrelevant nationally,” Bommai stated.

Meanwhile, even as there’s much speculation on where Siddaramaiah will contest from in the upcoming Assembly polls, the senior Congress leader on Wednesday said he had offers from 10 constituencies and that he would take a call on where to contest from, ahead of the elections.

Speaking to mediapersons, Siddaramaiah said he would discuss with the party high command and decide on which constituency to contest from, closer to the elections. “I have offers from Chamarajpet, Kolar, Koppal and Hebbal to name a few,” he said. He himself has ruled out contesting from Chamundeshwari, where he lost previously and Varuna, a seat represented by his son, he added.

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