Former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy has come down heavily on Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, who had challenged him to swear in the name of party patriarch and his father (former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda) that he would not support the BJP after the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka.
“Who is he (Mr. Siddaramaiah) to ask me to swear in my father’s name,” he asked during an interaction with mediapersons in Hassan on April 20. Mr. Kumaraswamy said both the Congress and the BJP had been going around claiming that they would win 150 seats each. “If so, why would you require our support? I am not going to support anybody. We are aiming to win 123 seats, and hence we are travelling across the State focusing on irrigation projects,” he said.
Mr. Kumaraswamy accused Mr. Siddaramaiah of toppling the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka. “He (Mr. Siddaramaiah) should be careful before commenting on the JD(S). He repeatedly accuses the JD(S) of being the B-team of the BJP. Who was responsible for bringing this government to power?”
He also questioned Mr. Siddaramaiah about corruption with regard to denotification of land meant of Arkavathi Layout in Bengaluru. “He has not responded to any of my questions. Now, he is asking me to swear in my father’s name. Who is he to ask me?”
