'I'll Fight Against Communalism Till My Last Breath': Siddaramaiah Resigns as Karnataka Chief Minister
New Delhi: Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday (May 28) formally resigned as Karnataka chief minister, paving the way for party colleague D.K. Shivakumar to likely take his place. Further, Siddaramaiah said that he is not retiring from politics and will fight against communalism till his "last breath"adding he is not going to Rajya Sabha.
"I have submitted my resignation today after the high command told me earlier to resign. I am fully confident that the governor will accept it when he comes because it has to be done according to the constitution," he said.
Siddaramaiah has submitted his resignation to Prabhu Shankar, special secretary to the governor, as Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot is not present in Bengaluru.
At a press conference after submitting his resignation, Siddaramaiah said that since the Congress holds an absolute majority, it is "constitutional that the chief minister should be allowed to [form the government]".
He expressed "immense gratitude to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge."
"I am a politician and I have understood that the constitution is our religion. Voters are fans, God. I had the opportunity to speak to seven crore people of Kannada Nadu. I had the opportunity to become the chief minister twice," Siddaramaiah said.
The 77-year-old underlined that he believes in the constitution and will fight against those who "try to undermine the constitution" till his last breath.
"I believe in the constitution. I could not have occupied any of the positions I held if there was no constitution. I'm not retiring from politics. Till my last breath, I will fight against communal forces, those who try to undermine constitution and those who prevent equal opportunities for everyone in society," Siddaramaiah said.
While there were speculations that he will go to Rajya Sabha, he suggested that he is "not interested in national politics".
"The Congress high command asked me to go to Rajya Sabha. But with humility, I have told them that I am not interested in national politics and that I want to continue in state politics," Siddaramaiah said.
The senior Congress leader also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for spreading "misinformation" and underlined that his government has fulfilled the promises made to the people of the state.
"We have made a sincere effort to fulfil the promises made to the people of the state. We have not broken our word. This is something that has given me and our party satisfaction. They [opposition] have spread misinformation about me. They have spread misinformation against me, including Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi. They said that there will be no money for development work, and the treasury will be empty. After the guarantee was implemented, we are number one in the entire country in terms of income. We are second in GST collection. Maharashtra is number one, Karnataka is number two," he said.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka home minister G. Parameshwara, speaking to PTI ahead of a breakfast meeting at the chief minister's residence, said Siddaramaiah wanted to “thank all ministers before submitting his resignation.” Images from the meeting showed Siddaramaiah seated beside his deputy Shivakumar.
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