HD Kumaraswamy warns against conducting elections during Covid-19 pandemic

JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday warned that the upcoming elections could lead to a spike in Covid-19 infections and said that they should not be held during the pandemic.

“If the Centre, Election Commission, and the state government had any common sense, there was no need for all these elections that are happening now,” Kumaraswamy said. He was referring to elections in Bihar, the bypolls to 54 assembly segments across India, and polls to four Legislative Council seats in the state.

Citing his own example, Kumaraswamy said that he was down with a high fever after addressing rallies in Sira. “Is it possible to hold an election? How can you ensure social distancing? I went to Sira for two days and ended up with a 101-degree celsius fever. We, politicians, are playing with the lives of people,” he stated.

“The world would not have ended if the elections were deferred by three more months. You could have imposed a 6-month President’s rule in Bihar with a caretaker government,” he said.

“How can we do this election? When we go to villages, people will gather. Will all of them wear a mask? Forget us, who will protect people?” he asked.

The former Karnataka CM also hit out at the Congress for suggesting that the JD(S) would help the BJP win in the Rajarajeshwarinagar bypoll.

“The Congress should be ashamed to say that,” he said.

“Why should I sacrifice a seat where our party workers have managed to get us 40,000-60,000 votes in past elections? And, why couldn’t the Congress keep their man under control,” he asked, referring to disqualified Rarajeshwarinagar legislator Munirathna who defected from the Congress to join the BJP.

Accusing the Congress of indulging in caste politics, Kumaraswamy said that Siddaramaiah held a meeting with OBC leaders recently.

“They’re the ones doing caste politics round-the-clock and they attack me. They were the ones who told Muslims not to vote for the JD(S) saying we had an understanding with the BJP,” he added.

Mocking Siddaramaiah for demanding that the caste census be made public, Kumaraswamy asked why he did not bring this up when he headed the coordination committee during the tenure of the Congress-JD(S) coalition.

On reports that Munirathna might consider contesting the Rajarajeshwarinagar election from the JD(S) ticket if the BJP failed to accommodate him, Kumaraswamy said, “We have already identified three of our own candidates and one of them will be finalized. We want to field a local, loyal party worker.”