HDK hits back, says Cong is JD(S) 'B' team in state

Irked by Congress president Rahul Gandhi remark that the JD(S) is BJP's 'B' team, former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday hit back, saying that the Congress in Karnataka is in reality 'B' team of the JD(S).

Targeting the JD(S) in the
H D Deve Gowda's fiefdom, Hassan, Rahul had on Wednesday accused that the regional party was in cahoots with the BJP. He had termed the JD(S) as the BJP's 'B' team.

In a statement, a derisive Kumaraswamy said that he sympathised with Rahul's "political naivety".

"Rahul Gandhi has forgotten that the Congress is JD(S)'s B team. It is a fact. I'm not sure if it was a conscious statement by him or if somebody had written it down (his speech) for him. I can't help but sympathise with his political naivety. Rahul, who has become the Congress president either by luck or by competence, wouldn't be making such childish remarks, if he had any idea about today's Karnataka Congress," the JD(S) state chief said.

He said that the Congress had branded the JD(S) as a regional party as it had raised its voice against the national party. He also questioned if
Rahul was aware of the political roots of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, some of his Cabinet colleagues and the Congress MLAs.

"Do you know the (political) roots/origin of today's Congress chief minister? He was groomed by the JD(S), and so were half the ministers in his Cabinet. They were all coached by Deve Gowda. Do you even know how many of your party legislators are originally from the JD(S)? If you don't know any of this, then your knowledge about your own party is limited. First understand the realities of politics, and then talk about politics," he added.

Kumaraswamy also said that the people whom Rahul was "defending" today, were the ones who had split the JD(S) to form the Congress's 'B' team.

He said that the original Congress was no more in existence, especially after it had lost leaders such as S M Krishna and V Srinivas Prasad.