Siddaramaiah says he will be Karnataka CM for 5 years

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday asserted that he will be in office for a full fiveyear term reported news agency PTIHe said that the Congress party was united and the partys government would be in power solid as a rock for five yearsYes I will be Why do you have the doubts Siddaramaiah said in response to a question by reporters whether he will be the CM for five yearsThere has been speculation within political circles especially within the ruling Congress for some time now about the Chief Minister change later this year citing a powersharing agreement involving Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K ShivakumarHowever Shivakumar on Tuesday said there is no discussion on leadership change and stressed on strengthening the hands of CM Siddaramaiah and the partys government in the state reported PTIResponding to a question on claims by the BJP and JDS leaders that the CM will be replaced Siddaramaiah shot back Are they our high commandR Ashoka Leader of Opposition in the Assembly is a BJP man B Y Vijayendra state BJP President is a BJP man Chalavadi Narayanaswamy Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council is a BJP man Will you write if they say such things Should you verify or not he asked reported PTIAlleging the BJP of spreading lies about the stability of the government Siddaramaiah said that the Congress party was united and the government will be in power solid as a rock for five yearsNo one believes in the BJP They only lie They are experts in lying They dont know how to speak the truth So whether they believe it or not we dont know We are all together in Congress As I have said in Mysuru recently we will be in power for five years Our government will be as solid as a rock BJP people are daydreaming he said reported PTIAccusing the BJP of doing nothing while in power he asked what evidence have they left to say that they have worked for the development of the state in sectors such as irrigation rural development public works education and healthThey BJP were in power for about four years and for 12 years in a coalition government with JDS under H D Kumaraswamys Chief Ministership What have they done They have done nothing By lying they are trying to mislead the people he addedResponding to a question on ministerial aspirants in the Congress the CM said the Congress high command will decideIn a democracy everyone has the right to become a CM The high command of Congress will ultimately decide There are about 140 people legislators in our party Only 34 people can be made ministers Can everybody be made minister he asked reported PTIEarlier in the day speaking to reporters in Bengaluru Shivakumar asserted that there is no disgruntlement within the ruling Congress and when Siddaramaiah is there as the CM there is no need for any discord on the leadership issueThere was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the chief ministers post after the declaration of Assembly election results in May 2023 and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy CMThere were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a rotational chief minister formula according to which Shivakumar will become CM after twoandhalf years but they have not been officially confirmed by the partyWith inputs from PTI