Congress tears into JD(S), Deve Gowda on his home turf

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar on Thursday unleashed a scathing attack on the JD(S) in Hassan – the regional party’s home turf.

With the JD(S) getting trounced in the Assembly polls in Mandya and Ramanagara districts, Hassan remains its last bastion. Siddaramaiah continued his high-pitched verbal attack on the former prime minister and his one-time mentor H D Deve Gowda.

“A great leader belonging to this district camped in Channapatna for a week to campaign for his grandson Nikhil. All three (Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and Nikhil) wept in Channapatna. They should have shed tears in Hassan,” the chief minister said in a veiled reference to allegations of sexual misconduct on Prajwal Revanna, another grandson of Deve Gowda.

While Deve Gowda has for decades been the tallest Vokkaliga leader in the state, Siddaramaiah accused the nonagenarian leader of thwarting the growth of several Vokkaliga leaders.

The CM accused the former PM of preventing the growth of Vokkaliga leaders like Puttaswamy Gowda, Byre Gowda, Bacche Gowda, Krishnappa, Nagegowda, Y K Ramaiah and B L Shankar. 

“Deve Gowda pushed us all into political oblivion. A day will come when he will himself witness his political decline,” Siddaramaiah said quoting former Nagamangala MLA H T Krishnappa.

Noting that the former prime minister was his senior by 15 years, the chief minister said Deve Gowda must speak in “accordance to his age.”  He said the JD(S) had no moral right to call itself secular after having allied with a “communal” force.

‘Saddened by Hassan’s history’

Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar was also quick to jump on the JD(S) and the Gowda family. “I am saddened by Hassan’s history. I won’t speak about your former MP (Prajwal Revanna). It’s shameful to talk about it.

Taking severe exception to Deve Gowda’s comment that Congress must be “uprooted” from the state, Shivakumar said: “Deve Gowda says Congress will be thrown out of power. Deve Gowda ji, Congress is not a potato or ground nut plant to root out. The country can be saved only if Congress is strong.”

For Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, winning over his community in this region is crucial for his political future and chief ministerial ambitions.