I’m strong-willed, didn’t attempt suicide, says Karnataka CM BSY's political secretary NR Santhosh

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s political secretary NR Santhosh got discharged from the hospital Monday, denying that he had attempted suicide. Santhosh, 31, was hospitalized last Friday evening allegedly due to an overdose of sleeping pills.

“Three days ago, there was a personal, family event. It was my cousin brother’s marriage. There, I suffered from food indigestion. I ended up taking a different medicine and due to an overdose, I got drowsy. My wife rushed me to the hospital. This was just a mistake,” Santhosh told reporters.

“I do have the habit of taking sleeping tablets. I usually take 0.2 mg and I should’ve consumed a half tablet. Instead, I took a full one that made me drowsy,” he said.

At one point, Santhosh refuted the police FIR and the hospital’s information that he had consumed 12 sleeping pills.

“I’ve seen the FIR. Where does it say 12 tablets,” he asked. When reporters showed the FIR copy, Santhosh clarified: “FIR means ‘first information received’. Once I gained consciousness, I gave the right answer.”

Santhosh, who is Yediyurappa’s grand-nephew, said there was no political pressure on him. “Let me tell you, there’s always political pressure, but I’m not someone who’d take pills because of it,” he said, adding that there was no pressure on him to resign as the CM’s political secretary.

“I am not depressed. I have strong will power. The wrestling ring in which I grew up will keep me strong for the next fifty years,” he said.

Hitting out at Congress president DK Shivakumar for claiming that a video was behind Santhosh’s suspected suicide, he said: “It’s not the first time Shivakumar has spoken like this. Earlier, he claimed I had some diary. Maybe he has lost his mind after the Rajarajeshwarinagar bypoll defeat. He should get admitted to a hospital or take a break.”

Threatening Shivakumar with protest, Santhosh said that he would mobilize a lakh people in Bengaluru if anything bad was spoken against Yediyurappa.