HDK targets BSY on home turf, says he set new records in graft

Taking on BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on his home turf, his JD(S) counterpart H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday accused him of having set new records in corruption.

Kumaraswamy, who visited Shikaripura for the first time this election season as part of his Kumara Parva Yatra, also charged that the Lingayat strongman had made it a habit of "lying".

Attacking Yeddyurappa for not effecting crop loan waiver when he was at the helm of the BJP government in the state for three years, Kumaraswamy said: "Yeddyurappa has made it a habit of uttering lies. He has been claiming that he has waived crop loan twice. However, it was I who did that when I was the chief minister during the BJP-JD(S) coalition government. I have just visited your town's Huccuhuraya Swamy temple - I dare not lie to you," he said.

Kumaraswamy recalled how he had "saved" Yeddyurappa from making a blunder during the Congress-JD(S) regime. He said that Yeddyurappa had approached him seeking him to make him a minister in the then government.

"At that time, I had advised him not to take any hasty decisions, for it would have adversely affected his political career. In turn I asked him to bring along some BJP MLAs. This was how the JD(S)-BJP coalition came into being. After all that I did for him, he eventually blamed me for not honouring 20-20 agreement and letting him take over as chief minister. The fact is I didn't betray him. Yeddyurappa has himself claimed that his own party men such as Ananth Kumar and K S Eshwarappa scuttled his chances," added Kumaraswamy.

The JD(S) leader said that he would waive crop loans worth Rs 54,000 crore and Stree Shakti loans of around Rs 4,300 crore, if his party comes to power.

For the JD(S), Thursday's event was a major show of strength in a Lingayat-dominated segment, which has elected Yeddyurappa as an MLA, almost continuously since 1983.

Sorab MLA Madhu Bangarappa, who has taken it upon himself to capture Shikaripura from BJP's clutches, played the emotional card.

Recalling how his father, the late S Bangarappa had taken the initiative to distribute rice for free to households of farmers in the taluk, which was reeling under drought in 2003, Madhu said, "You can repay your debt to Bangarappa by casting your votes to H T Baligar (JD-S candidate). I'm sure none of you have forgotten the goodwill extended by my father that year. If you don't do the right thing this time, then you will become the 'shikaar' in Shikaripura."

Baligar, a retired KAS officer and formerly a right hand man of Bangarappa, has been taking on Yeddyurappa and his son B Y Raghavendra on two major issues -- non-implementation of the Varada lift irrigation project, and the non-issue of title deeds to bagair hukum cultivators.