Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says the government is stable and the claims made by a BJP leader are unfounded

Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah denied a BJP leader’s assertion on Monday, stating instead that his administration is solid and cannot fall.

Former minister and BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi had predicted that the Congress administration will fall, drawing comparisons to the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra.

Jarkiholi said that dangers to the government originate from inside rather than from the outside and that the collapse will be caused by “Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and company,” perhaps equating this to Ajit Pawar’s actions in the neighboring state.

“Our government is stable and it is not possible to collapse just because a BJP leader has said it,” Siddaramaiah retorted, taking aim at him.

Jarkiholi refuted the Congress’s claim on Monday that the BJP was carrying out a “Operation Lotus” akin to 2019 in an attempt to overthrow the government.

He rejected the claim made by the Congress that individuals responsible for toppling the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2019 are back in the game and are bribing Congress MLAs in power to defect.

Jarkiholi, a former Congressman who was thought to have played a significant role in the collapse of the coalition government four years before, said that the BJP had never discussed “Operation Lotus.” Rather, he said, DCM Shivakumar’s “drama company” is the one discussing it.