Top quotes from Siddaramaiah’s press conference after quitting as CM

An emotional Siddaramaiah on Thursday (May 28) said he will remain in active politics and won’t be involved at the national level after resigning as Karnataka Chief Minister.

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, 77, who served as Karnataka Chief Minister for more than eight years over two terms (2013-2018, and 2023-2026), spoke to the media after submitting his resignation at Lok Bhavan in Bengaluru on Thursday afternoon.

Also read: Siddaramaiah: The shepherd who rewrote Karnataka's political history

He submitted his resignation to Prabhu Shankar, Special Secretary to Karnataka Governor, as Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot is out of the state, and will return to Bengaluru tonight.

During his second term as the Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah surpassed the record of Congress veteran and fellow Mysurian Devaraj Urs, becoming the longest-serving Chief Minister of Karnataka on January 7, reaching 2,792 days.

Here are the top quotes from Siddaramaiah’s press conference in Bengaluru after stepping down as Karnataka Chief Minister.

“The high command directed me two days ago to step down, and accordingly I submitted my resignation today. I got the opportunity to serve the people of Karnataka twice, for which I thank Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.”

“I have confidence that Governor will accept my resignation after he returns. As per the Constitution, he has to accept.”

“Constitution is our religion. Voters are my fans, who are our Gods. I got an opportunity to serve Karnataka's 7-crore-plus population. I served as CM for two terms.”

“Our party has won 135 plus one seats and two Independents have also supported our government. We are in absolute majority.”

“Legislature party, high command will decide on next chief minister.”

“I came to politics by accident. Nobody in my family was a politician.”

“I will remain in state politics as I still have two years to serve as MLA.”

“I was offered Rajya Sabha seat, but I humbly declined. I want to remain in state politics. I have no interest in national politics. I will continue in active politics.”

“Not only me, my family too became victims of political hatred.”

“My political opponents made false allegations even against my wife, who remained far away from politics and limited herself only to the care and upbringing of the family, and mentally harassed her.”

“Experiencing all this, my mind was so hurt that I thought of taking political sanyasa. But my soul warned me not to become a fugitive, fearing the attacks of enemies, not to step back from the path of public service. I continued the fight for justice against injustice and relieved myself by clearing the taint of accusations.”

“Till my last breath, I will fight against communal forces.”

“Sonia Gandhi brought me to the Congress (from JDS).”

“I neither chased money nor craved for building properties, my political life is an open book.”

“I have been in political life for nearly 50 years, started my career in 1978.”

“We had 165 promises in our manifesto when we came to power in 2013, and we fulfilled 158 of those. In 2023, we had 550 promises and over 300 have been fulfilled.”

“I am a follower of Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Basavanna, BR Ambedkar.”