Not advisable to speak against wishes of party high command: Kharge on Congress-JD(S) turbulence

Amid the ongoing political turbulence in Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka, senior Congress party leader Mallikarjun Kharge has advised his party MLAs "not to speak against the wishes of the party high command".

"They (Karnataka Congress MLAs) should not react openly to the media. We have all come together to fight BJP-RSS. It is not advisable for any member to speak against wishes of the party high command. Such incidents will create confusion in the coalition," Kharge told ANI.

His statement comes hours after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy told ANI that he is ready to step down after Congress MLAs reportedly said, "Siddaramaiah is their leader".

"Congress MLAs say Siddaramaiah is their leader; Congress leaders have to watch all that issues, I am not the concerned person for it. If they want to continue with it, I am ready to step down. They are crossing the line. Congress leaders must control their MLAs," Kumaraswamy said.

Earlier, Congress legislators ST Somashekar and MTB Nagaraj in a programme on Sunday reportedly said that they only consider former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as their leader and not Kumaraswamy.

Reacting to the issue, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said that there was nothing wrong with the MLAs concerned expressing their opinions, but the party is happy with Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister.

He said, "Siddaramaiah has been the best Chief Minister. He is our Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader. For the MLA, he (Siddaramaiah) is the Chief Minister. He has expressed his opinion. What is wrong in that? We are all happy with him (Kumaraswamy)."

Ever since Congress-JD(S) jointly formed the government in Karnataka in May last year, there have been murmurs of cracks in the coalition.