Ahead of the new Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s floor test, two senior Congress leaders on Saturday claimed that some MLAs from the rebel camp had tried contacting Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah.
“Two MLAs from the rebel camp called up Siddaramaiah recently. But he ignored their calls and did not answer,” former Home Minister M.B. Patil told reporters in Vijayapura. However, he refused to take names. Confirming this, Mr. Siddaramaiah said in Bengaluru, “It is true, some of them called me. They called me after the Speaker announced the disqualification of three MLAs. They a re worried about disqualification now.”
These claims, made by Congress leaders ahead of Mr. Yediyurappa’s floor test, appeared to have created a flutter in the rebel group. Some of them immediately clarified that they were not worried about any action against them, including disqualification.
Janata Dal (S) rebel legislator A.H. Vishwanath rubbished these claims while speaking to presspersons in Pune. “It is false. They are trying to create confusion that something will happen on Monday. But we are intelligent enough to know better,” he said. “They are trying to mislead us, but we will not go astray. They are the ones who are misled.”
Congress rebel N. Nagaraju (M.T.B.) also said no one from the group had called Mr. Siddaramaiah. “We are not worried about any action against us. Siddaramaiah is a senior leader. He should maintain his dignity and not make false statements. Let him prove that we have called and show the numbers from which he got calls,” Mr. Nagaraju said. Asserting that all the rebels were firm on their decision, he said, “We have not resigned for money or power. We will tell you in detail why we resigned after we return to Bengaluru. We will have a press conference.”
