Friendship, betrayal rock House as HDK, BSY lock horns

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy told the Legislative Assembly on Monday that he cannot perform magic in a month’s time and sought more time for the Congress-JD(S) coalition to address prevailing issues in the state.

Kumaraswamy, during his reply on the Governor’s address to the joint session of the legislature, likened himself to Karna from the Mahabharata while justifying his position as “a child of circumstance.”

“Many said the Governor’s speech was directionless. Why then was it discussed for 16.26 hours? Presently, there’s not much for this coalition to talk about in terms of achievements. BJP members need not worry. This coalition will complete its full five-year term,” Kumaraswamy said, going on to angrily stress that he was chief minister for all 6.5 crore people and not of just one caste.

Pandemonium prevailed in the Assembly when Kumaraswamy locked horns with Leader of the Opposition B S Yeddyurappa.

Kumaraswamy said the BJP, in 2006, chose to make him the chief minister despite the JD(S) having 38 legislators and the saffron party 84, including the support of five JD(U) MLAs. “If the Congress with 80 MLAs making me the chief minister is unholy, wasn’t it unholy what you did,” Kumaraswamy asked.

Irked, Yeddyurappa accused Kumaraswamy of betraying him by refusing to hand over power after 20 months as per the arrangement. “Betrayal is in your blood. You betrayed (the late) Dharam Singh also,” Yeddyurappa said. A comment the BJP leader made on Singh’s death was put on hold by Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar.

Kumaraswamy again asserted that he was not heading an independent government. “I have limitations. If I had an independent government, I would have waived farmers’ loans within 24 hours. But, people rejected my manifesto. I would have got a simple majority if people had voted based on the manifesto,” he said.

Yeddyurappa pointed out that five farmers had died since the Rs 34,000-crore loan waiver was announced. “It’s like an in-charge chief minister has been appointed,” he said, pointing to senior Congress leader H K Patil airing his displeasure over north Karnataka being neglected. “This shows in what direction this government is headed.”

There are no permanent friends and enemies in politics, Revenue Minister R V Deshpande said. “Everything depends on the situation.”

Clean chit to George

Kumaraswamy came to the rescue of his Cabinet colleague K J George and said he was not “directly involved” in the death of DySP M K Ganapathy. “Yes, I raised these issues when I was in the Opposition. Even I demanded a CBI probe. In the case of IAS officer

D K Ravi’s death, the CBI cleared George’s name. In the Ganapathy case, while the CBI is yet to give a report, I’m informed that George isn’t directly involved,” he said.