Siddaramaiah takes a break, leaves for Europe with his family

Bengaluru: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who left for a  few days break in Europe with his family and trusted lieutenant and MLC, Govindaraju Monday morning, is reportedly now in Moscow. He is likely to visit Germany, France and Dubai before returning to to India on September 13. Hundreds of his supporters gathered at his Bengaluru home to take his photograph on their mobile phones as he got  into his car to go to the   the airport.  

Although a  week ago Mr Siddaramaiah had told reporters in Mysuru that several legislators like Bharati Suresh and S.T. Somashekhar, who were heading for a Kannada sammelana in Dallas, USA would also join him on his trip,  he clarified on Monday  that only Mr Govindaraju was accompanying him.  While he has described his trip as personal, many Congress legislators believe he could plan a strategy to return as Chief Minister while seated thousands of miles away from Karnataka and out of the media spotlight.  

Former union minister C.M. Ibrahim too has hinted at a major change in state politics after September 15.  While the speculation about his political moves continues, the former Chief Minister has explained that he had spoken about becoming Chief Minister again only after the next assembly poll and he had no intention of destablising the Kumaraswamy government.