Next Karnataka CM will be from NK, says Minister Katti

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti has said that the chief minister in BJP will be from North Karnataka this time.

Speaking to media persons on Monday, Katti said he will not allow injustice to happen to the people of North Karnataka. If north Karnataka is neglected politically, the demand for separate Statehood would rise, he added.

Patting his own back, the minister said, he is an eight-time MLA and has experience of handling six departments as a minister. “I have all the credentials to become the chief minister and there is no black mark in my political career or public life,” he expressed.

“After becoming chief minister, I dream of becoming prime minister also,” he said, adding that there are many such political bigwigs in North Karnataka who aspire to climb up the political ladder. Dharwad MLA Arvind Bellad and Minister Murugesh Nirani too are in the race to become the next chief minister, he said.

Joshi reacts

Reacting to this, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said, a leader from north Karnataka should become the chief minister but not in this term. There are chances in the next term, he added.

He said Minister Katti’s statement should be read as the next chief minister from North Karnataka and not in this term.

On corruption charges, Joshi said, corruption and Congress are two faces of the same coin. They were the ones who sowed the seed of corruption. The BJP-led NDA government has been ruling the country for the last seven years and not even a single charge of corruption has been levelled against any of the central ministers, he said.