I fulfilled my word to farmers and came out: H D Kumaraswamy on Congress-JD(S) govt

Bengaluru: Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday reminisced about his 14-month government with the Congress in 2018-19, claiming that “he fulfilled his word to farmers” and "came out.”

“I accidentally formed an alliance with the BJP. The governance we gave with the BJP in 2006-07 was historical. Later, I became (chief minister) for a second time. I wanted to exit early and came out. I knew what the situation was. I had given my word to the farmers. I fulfilled it and came out.”

He was speaking during the Good Governance Day programme on the occasion of the 101st birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Congress-JD(S) alliance government fell in 2019 after 14 MLAs from Congress and three from the JD(S) jumped ship and joined the BJP.

Kumaraswamy hailed Vajpayee and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani for the BJP’s electoral growth over the decades.

Speaking on the occasion, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said: "Vajpayee was a rare personality.. Mahatma Gandhi had spoken about Ram Rajya and Swarjya but Vajpayee spoke about surajya (good governance)... While Lal Bahadur Shastri spoke of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,’ Vajpayee added ‘Jai Vigyaan’ to it later,” Bommai claimed.

Taking a dig at the power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar, he said: “Power is non-debatable. Why is it being debated, especially in our state? People have given you power for people’s politics. Why do you do power politics? How long will you do, for whose benefit will you do? People are asking these questions.”