Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said he is no hurry to the post of Chief Minister and aims to bring Congress back to power in the state.
"I am in no hurry (for CM post). My agenda is to bring Congress back to power and for this I have said that the party can use me as a stepping stone. I have seen statements of two or three MLAs. Siddaramaiah is Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and he will look into it. Congress is still alive in Karnataka," Mr Shivakumar said.
The Karnataka Congress chief's remarks come in the backdrop of claims that there is a split within the party MLAs with one faction backing Siddaramaiah as the chief ministerial candidate while the others support Mr Shivakumar for the post.
With Assembly elections less than two years away, Congress MLA Zameer Ahmad on Sunday said Siddaramaiah should become the "future Chief Minister of Karnataka."
Speaking to mediapersons in Bengaluru today, DK Shivakumar dismissed all reports of a split and stressed that the aim of the Congress is to defeat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power in the state.
"No chair is empty in the Congress at present. Our race is to defeat BJP and bring Congress back to power. We need to fight against BJP and defeat it instead of diverting issues. We have to work together. People, workers, leaders want to defeat BJP," Mr Shivakumar said.
Congress MLA Ramappa Timmapur had earlier remarked that DK Shivakumar has age on his side and can become Chief Minister later but Siddaramaiah must become the next Chief Minister.
On Tuesday, Congress Disciplinary Committee in the state on Tuesday issued a warning to party leaders Zameer Ahmad and Raghavendra Hitnal for making statements that favoured "a person instead of the party."
Mr Ahmad and Mr Hitnal were served the warning days after they had stated that they wanted Siddaramaiah to be the Chief Minister once again.
