Bengaluru: Dismissing the claims of both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that his party has little chance of returning to power in the state, state Janata Dal (Secular) President H.D. Kumaraswamy asserted here on Friday that he would not only return to power but also tighten the administration, making it uncomfortable for some.

Referring to the speculation over his arrest in the Janthakal mining case, he declared that such moves against him would not deter him.

“Every time the case is raked up in one form or the other, there is a lot of discussion on whether I will be arrested or not. But let the government file even 10 more cases and I am ready to face them. I am confident of emerging clean and returning to power,” he declared, participating in the debate on demands in the Legislative Assembly.

While assuring that he would not resort to vindictive politics, Mr Kumaraswamy warned that he would tighten the system, which could hurt some people in power.

“I live on the streets and not in glass houses. But many people here live in glass houses and I have a plan about what I should do when I come back to power,” he said.

Accusing the state government of financial mismanagement, he wondered why it was resorting to large scale borrowing when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had himself criticised the last Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state over its market borrowings of Rs 96,000 crore, when he was in the opposition.

“Now his own government’s borrowings have touched Rs 1.3 lakh crore when the funds allotted to the departments of agriculture, animal husbandry, urban development and RDPR have not been utilised and have been carried forward to the next year,” he observed.