Bengaluru, July 3 -- Senior Congress leader and Aland MLA BR Patil said on Wednesday his remarks about chief minister Siddaramaiah were misconstrued and misrepresented to fuel divisions within the ruling party.

A purported audio clip of Patil's phone call, allegedly recorded during his visit to KR Pet in Mandya, surfaced earlier this week and quickly gained traction on social media. In it, Patil was allegedly heard saying that Siddaramaiah "won the lottery" and rose to power due to "luck" and "planetary alignment." He also claimed credit for introducing Siddaramaiah to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. HT could not verify the veracity of the audio clip.

In the leaked audio, Patil allegedly said: "Siddaramaiah won the lottery. I was the one ...