Bengaluru: Congress Legislature Party leader and former CM Siddaramaiah on Friday blamed the Devegowda family for the collapse of Cong-JD(S) coalition government in the state earlier last month after a series of resignations from the MLAs of both the parties.

Siddaramaiah on Friday called a press conference in the city to respond to the allegations levelled against him by JD(S) supremo and former PM Devegowda blaming him for the collapse of the government.

“In an interview to a news agency Devegowda levelled allegations against me that I was the reason behind the collapse of coalition government. If I don’t respond to the allegations it will send wrong message across. That’s why I decided to call a press conference on this” Siddaramaiah said ahead of the press conference.

“Our aim was that the BJP should not come to power. Even after having over 80 MLAs we supported JD(S). And once the government was formed I never interfered in the administration of Kumaraswamy nor any such attempts were made. Now, when the government has collapsed they are blaming me to cover up their mistakes that led to the collapse of the government” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

“CM Kumaraswamy never implemented decisions taken by coordination committee. Only during meetings he would approve those decisions and never work on it. Most of his decisions were unilateral, he used to ignore Congress legislators. The ministers were not taken into confidence. That’s the reason why the coalition government collapsed. Kumaraswamy and Devegowda are to be blamed for the BJP government in the state” Siddaramaiah added while saying that Devegowda’s remarks against him were politically motivated.

“Devegowda is an expert in pulling down governments. History is open for all to see. Don’t we know what he did when Dharam Singh government was in power in the state? Devegowda was responsible for the collapse of Dharam Singh government after Kumaraswamy joined hands with BJP to form government” he further added.

“Similarly, Devegowda once again was the reason behind the collapse of BJP-JD(S) government when Kumaraswamy withdrew support to BJP without giving CM post to Yediyurappa” he remarked adding that he knows Devegowda well as he has been in JD(S).

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Ballia (UP) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested five men accused in the murder of a roadways employee's son after a brief exchange of fire early Sunday, officials said.

Four of the accused – Nitish Yadav, Ashish Yadav, Dilip Yadav and Rahul Verma – sustained bullet injuries in their legs during the encounter in the Ubhaon area and were admitted to a hospital, Additional Superintendent of Police, Dinesh Kumar Shukla, said.

Police received information around 2.45 am that some criminals had gathered near Chainpur to carry out an offence. When a police team reached the spot, they found two four-wheelers and a motorcycle parked there, the ASP said.

"One of the accused alerted the others about the police. When asked to surrender, they opened fire on the police team with the intention to kill. In retaliatory firing, four accused were injured and arrested,” Shukla said.

A fifth accused, Anand Kumar Verma, managed to flee but was later arrested after a cordon operation.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to their involvement in the December 13 murder of Ayush Yadav (25), son of a roadways employee, who was shot in the Belthara Road area under the Ubhaon police station limits, the officer said.

Police had already arrested six accused in the case, while another accused, Rabin Singh, surrendered at the Mau city Kotwali on Saturday, taking the total number of arrests to 12.