HDK threatens power plant staff

“You vote for Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) but come to me with problems... You don’t deserve any respect. I will order the police to lathicharge you.”

This is how Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday thundered at employees of Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) in Raichur when they stopped his bus to submit a memorandum.

The incident happened when Kumaraswamy was travelling from Raichur to Keregudda village for his Grama Vastavya (village stay) programme.

The aggrieved employees then staged a protest and shouted slogans against the coalition government.

Later speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy defended himself, and blamed the BJP for conspiring to tarnish his image.

“YTPS employees were staging a protest despite assurance that their problems will be resolved. It was a drama, not protest. Can they (protesters) do the same thing with Modi and get away?.. So I had no option but to warn them,” he stated. Recently, his Cabinet colleague and Transport Minister D C Thammanna had sparked a similar controversy.

When a group of villagers at Maddur in Mandya district approached him seeking basic amenities, the Minister had abused them, stating that they should feel ashamed for supporting the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

Interestingly, Kumaraswamy had taken exception to Thammanna’s statement and advised him to treat everyone equally.

After the defeat of the JD(S)-Congress alliance in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the chief minister has taken up village stay programmes to bring the administration closer to people. He held his first village stay at Chandraki village in Yadgir district last week.