JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday accused the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of “pioneering internal pacts” with rival political parties.
Mr. Kumaraswamy went on a tweet spree in response to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s remarks against the alleged internal understanding between the JD(S) and the BJP and the alleged sabotage by his own partymen in Chamundeshwari constituency during 2018 Assembly elections.
The JD(S) leader accused the Congress leader of having “internal pacts with rival parties” not only during the 2009–10 Assembly bypolls, but also during the 2013 Assembly elections. “With whom did he have an internal understanding in Koratagere and whose political future did he plunge into darkness,” Mr. Kumaraswamy tweeted, apparently referring the loss of the former Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara from the constituency in the 2013 elections.
Mr. Kumaraswamy said Mr. Siddaramaiah himself should quit the Congress for alleged anti-party activities during the 2013 elections. Also, he sought to ask why the internal pact as alleged by the Congress leader did not work in Badami Assembly segment from where Mr. Siddaramaiah won in 2018.
The JD(S) leader further said that Mr. Siddaramaiah was trying to escape from the charge of bringing down the coalition government though many MLAs from the Congress, who joined the BJP, were his camp followers.
Reacting to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s repeated reference to the number of seats the JD(S) had won in comparison to those won by the Congress, Mr. Kumaraswamy challenged the Congress leader, “who is under the shade of a national party”, to build a regional party and win at least 10 seats in his own capacity.
Referring to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s charge that the Chief Minister of the coalition government was not visiting the office and was instead functioning from a star hotel, former Minister and JD(S) MLA S.R. Mahesh said Mr. Siddaramaiah himself was responsible for Mr. Kumaraswamy functioning from a star hotel as the Congress leader had not vacated Cauvery, the official residence of Chief Minister, that he was occupying in the previous government.
