'Loved us, married BJP': Mallikarjun Kharge's dig at former PM Deve Gowda

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took a dig at former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, saying the Vokkaliga leader “loved Congress” but chose to ally with the NDA. This remark prompted the Vokkaliga leader to hit back at the Congress president.

Kharge, while bidding farewell to retiring Rajya Sabha members, recalled his association with Deve Gowda.

"I have known Deve Gowda for a long time ---54 years-- and have worked with him. But I do not know what happened. He fell in love with us, but married Modi sahab (Prime Minister Narendra Modi)," Kharge said in the Upper House. The analogy made the Prime Minister, who was present in the Rajya Sabha, laugh.

Reacting to Kharge's statement, Deve Gowda claimed that he was in a "forced marriage" with the Congress but had to "divorce" the national party because it was an "abusive relationship".

Taking to social media platform 'X', Deve Gowda, the JD(S) patriarch said "my dear and long time friend, Mallikarjun Kharge, made a light-hearted comment in Parliament today about me having been in "love" with them (Congress) but "married" Modi Ji (BJP) eventually. He also said he did not know the reason as to why I did so."

Deve Gowda said he was not in the House when Kharge spoke as he had to leave for Bengaluru to be present for Ugadi celebrations on Thursday.

"If I were to respond to my friend in the same language of marriage, I would like to say that I was in a "forced marriage" with the Congress but had to "divorce" them because it was an abusive relationship," he said, in a statement on 'X'.

He sought to remind Kharge that in 2018 Congress had sent its leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and offered Kumaraswamy the chief minister's post. "I did not consent to this."

"I told in everybody's presence that Kharge should be made Chief Minister. Siddaramaiah was also there. However, Azad insisted on Kumaraswamy's leadership. But after all this song, dance and a wedding what did they do in 2019? They dumped us. How many Congress MLAs defected to the BJP and who sent them across is now common knowledge," he said.

Deve Gowda said that if Congress had acted against the person who instigated defection that day, "today my friend, Kharge, would be in a better position as AICC President."

"So to put the record straight, I did not desert the Congress alliance. It is they who walked away. They left me with no choice but to "divorce" them and seek a more stable alliance," Gowda claimed.