BENGALURU: Rebel Congress legislators, who are demanding a change of leadership in the state, have urged former Chief Minister S M Krishna to lead their charge against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

“I am in touch with S M Krishna and he has extended support to us,” said former minister and MLA A B Maalaka Reddy, who was part of the series of meetings attended by like-minded Congress legislators including V Srinivasa Prasad, Qamarul Islam and Malikayya Guttedar in the city on Thursday.

Sources said Krishna is not happy with the way things are being handled in the state and he may come out in open to support the rebel MLAs, demanding for leadership charge.

On many occasions, Krishna had expressed his displeasure over Siddaramaiah and his ministers’ style of functioning and now he may help rebel Congress legislators take up the issue with the party high command.

Rebel MLAs claim that they are not against the party and are demanding for change of leadership in the best interests of Congress as it cannot afford to face the 2018 elections under Siddaramaiah’s leadership. They are also targeting senior Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge, accusing him of ignoring senior MLAs to make his son minister.

In fact, some senior Congress leaders in New Delhi too are not happy with the way things are being handled by the leadership in the state. “The CM should have consulted senior ministers and leaders before taking the decision to drop some ministers or inducting others. Now, it is up to the CM and Digvijay Singh to handle the situation. The high command is not happy with the developments in Karnataka,” a senior leader at the AICC headquarters told Express.

Krishna, who is in Mumbai, is expected to return to the city on Friday. Some MLAs will be meeting him after his return to discuss their future course of action.