Reacting to the allegations by the BJP that the coalition partners - JD(S) and the JD(S) have murdered democracy by forcing the BJP nominee to withdraw from Ramanagara Assembly byelection, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy asked, “What did the BJP do in the name of Operation Kamala earlier?”

Speaking to reporters, here, Kumaraswamy said, the BJP leaders were crying foul, saying that it was anti-democratic, and would complain to the Election Commission. “Complaint, for what and against whom? Let them explain as to how we murdered democracy. It was the BJP, which neglected its party workers and lured honest Congress workers with the promise of issuing a ticket to join their party, a few days before the last date to file nominations,” he said.

“They (BJP) made 20 Congress and JD(S) MLAs to tender resignations during their rule, earlier. Was it not a murder of democracy. Even now, they are trying to lure the ruling party MLAs with crores of rupees. What is it called?” he questioned. He criticised the BJP leaders for saying that the coalition government would fall after the byelections and for fixing a November 6 deadline for the same.

Kumaraswamy exuded the confidence in the Congress-JD(S) coalition candidates winning the byelections to the three Parliamentary and two Assembly constituencies. “The results will serve as a basis for selecting candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The leaders of both parties are campaigning for the candidates. This will help in facing the elections together in future,” he opined.