Bangalore, August 7, 2013 ; The Congress on Wednesday came down heavily on the JD(S) for allegedly entering into a tacit understanding with the BJP for the coming Lok Sabha byelections and accused the JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda of indulging in “selfish” and “communal” politics.
Launching the party’s campaign for the bypolls to Bangalore Rural and Mandya parliamentary constituencies on the outskirts of Bangalore, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh alleged that the JD(S) does not have any political ideology. The party is driven by Gowda and his family members. Hence, the party has joined hands with the BJP, he said.
Asked whether senior leader D K Shivakumar will be made a minister after the bypolls, Singh only said: “Leave it to us.” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hit out at Gowda over the understanding with the BJP and termed him communal and selfish. “The BJP is a communal party. Gowda should stop misleading people on secularism. He should throw away the suffix ‘secular’ that goes with his party’s name. Gowda has no right to continue in politics,” he stated.
“Gowda recently denied there was any understanding with the BJP. What has he (Gowda) got to say now? Gowda never speaks truth. He became the chief minister when we all were in the then Janata Dal. Later, he became the prime minister with the support of the Congress. Let him clarify why the JD(S) could not get a clear majority after we all quit the party,” Siddaramaiah said.
Kumaraswamy openly declared in the Assembly that he believes in adjustment politics. Deve Gowda and his family members think that they have a right to rule the State. People will teach them a lesson in the coming bypolls, he warned.
Siddaramaiah also alleged that Kumaraswamy spent least time in parliament as MP of Bangalore Rural constituency. “He has not even spent money available under the MP’s quota for development. When he has not attended parliament, do you think his wife will attend the parliament session and represent the constituency?” he said.
The only goal of the JD(S) and the BJP is to come to power by hook or by crook and loot the State coffers. Despite being a national party, the BJP has shamelessly decided not to field its candidates in the byelections. The same BJP leaders who went around the State complaining that JD(S) backstabbed them in 2007 are now supporting it in the bypolls, he charged.
KPCC chief G Parameshwara said he was not surprised with the BJP’s move to withdraw its candidates in the bypolls. For, Kumaraswamy had recently openly declared that he does not believe in secularism. Gowda should clarify whether he will support Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Later in the evening, the State Congress organised an Iftar dinner at the Palace Grounds. Singh, Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara and Jaffer Sharief were among the prominent leaders present.
