‘Support for DKS’: Set your house in order, HDK told

“It is an internal matter of our party as to who should be made CM or state Congress president. At one point of time, we did seek their (JD-S') support to keep communal BJP at bay. Now, we don’t need them,” Priyank Kharge said.

Bengaluru: Outrightly rejecting JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy’s offer to extend support to make D K Shivakumar the chief minister, IT and BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Sunday taunted the former, saying that he must focus on saving his party from heading into political oblivion, "as it has merged with BJP and lost its credibility with people and supporters in the state".

Kharge told reporters here that the Congress on its own had 136 MLAs in the Assembly and none in the Congress had sought support from the JD(S).

“It is an internal matter of our party as to who should be made CM or state Congress president. At one point of time, we did seek their (JD-S') support to keep communal BJP at bay. Now, we don’t need them,” he said.

“We have our party high command which decides on matters like who should be the CM or state party president. People have given us the mandate to decide on our own,” Kharge said.

Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara said, “Let him give. Isn’t it a good development when a NDA partner is offering us support?”

Industries Minister M B Patil said Kumaraswamy’s statement was nothing but drama.

“We have got our mandate. Let him worry more about his party instead of ours,” he said.