Yathindra didn’t say 'so-and-so' should become CM, says Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru.(PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday clarified that his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah did not name anyone as his successor.
Bringing a storm in the Congress Karnataka unit, party MLC Yathindra on Wednesday said, "He (Siddaramaiah) is at the fag end of his political life. At such a time, a leader is needed to guide and lead those who have progressive thinking, ideologically."
Minister Satish Jarkiholi is a leader with similar progressive ideological thinking, he said at Chikkodi in Belagavi district.
His statement was perceived as declaring Siddaramaiah’s successor. It came at a time when the power corridor in Karnataka is abuzz with rumours that Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar would succeed Siddaramaiah in November as per a compromise arrived at in 2023 based on a ‘rotational chief minister formula’.
Siddaramaiah, who will complete two-and-half years as chief minister this November, had asserted in the past that he would complete his five year tenure.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Siddaramaiah blamed the media for wrongly presenting Yathindra's statement.
"What can I do if his statement is twisted? I spoke to him (Yathindra) and asked him what exactly he had said. He said he spoke only about principles. He did not say that ‘so-and-so’ should become chief minister," he said.
When asked about the need for such a statement in the midst of confusion over the successor, Siddaramaiah said, "You people do not stay quiet and keep asking such questions despite saying ‘no’."
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said he will speak to the person who should be spoken to.
"I am not going to speak now, but I will speak to whomever it is that should be spoken to," he told reporters here.
He was replying to a query by a reporter who sought to know why notice was not served to Yathindra, who was speaking about the change of guard.
Recently, two Congress MLAs, H D Ranganath and H A Iqbal Hussain, were served notices for their statement that Shivakumar should become the next chief minister of the state.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
