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Rubbishing BJP's claim that the coalition government in Karnataka would collapse due to internal rift, Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday, 27 December, said the Congress-JDS alliance was strong and they would contest the Lok Sabha polls together.
The leader of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition coordination committee also ruled out any differences between him and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara over portfolio allocation to newly inducted ministers.
"They (BJP) don't want to sit in the opposition and work. By using some wrong means, they want to form the government," Siddaramaiah said.
He was reacting to senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Umesh Katti's claim that 15 disgruntled MLAs from the ruling coalition were in touch with him and that the saffron party would form the new government in Karnataka by early January.
Speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Siddaramaiah said, "Nothing will happen, the government will not fall. Government will complete its term, there is no problem at all."
"I don't know what you are saying... (JDS wanting to go alone) is news for me," the former Karnataka chief minister said, adding that the seat sharing formula was yet to be finalised.
"About the number of seats, all those things we have not been discussed, it will be discussed when we will sit together, which has not yet happened," he said.
Congress and JD(S) had earlier announced that they would fight the polls together.
Expressing confidence that former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, sulking over being dropped from the ministry, would not quit as party MLA, Siddaramaiah said, "He is basically a Congress man, he will stay with us."
Jarkiholi has threatened to quit as Congress lawmaker and is likely to announce his decision soon amid reports that he might join the BJP.
Terming reports about the rift with Parameshwara as "totally false", he said, "We haven't spoken at the meeting, as reported."
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