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Hegde offers to quit and return to Karnataka politics

Union Commerce Minister and Lok Shakti president Ramakrishna Hegde has indicated his willingness to resign from the Centre and return to state politics if his party and its ally Bharatiya Janata Party wished so, according to former Karnataka minister R V Deshpande.

Talking to newsmen in Bangalore, Deshpande, who recently joined Hegde's Rashtriya Navanirmana Vedike, quoted the latter as saying so at a hurriedly convened meeting of Lok Shakti office-bearers and Janata Dal legislators who had joined the Vedike.

He said when leaders urged Hegde to return to state politics to arrest the "deteriorating condition," he offered to resign his ministership and return.

Replying to queries, Deshpande said the Vedike would not topple the J H Patel ministry in the state -- it would collapse on its own. "We are not in a hurry," he said.

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