Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar responsible for Manpade's death: D V Sadananda Gowda

Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar are “directly responsible” for the death of CPM leader Maruthi Manpade, Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda charged on Monday.

Gowda, who was campagining for BJP candidate Puttanna contesting from the Bangalore Teachers' constituency in the upcoming MLC elections, attacked the Congress for putting farmers in jeopardy.

"The party brought farmers to the streets to agitate against Centre's farm reforms, ignoring Covid-19," Gowda said.

"Manpade, a farmers' leader, died of Covid and I hold Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar directly responsible for this,” he said.

"They were responsible for spreading Covid because of these protests. If we ask them to maintain social distancing, they complain that we are anti-farmers."

Responding to this, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Shivakumar dared Gowda to lodge a complaint against him.

Further charging at JD(S), Gowda said the teachers' constituency voters were not foolish to believe allegations against Puttanna. Gowda's retort was for a recent allegation against Puttanna made by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, who claimed that he had helped him get Class-1 government jobs to his relatives.

Puttanna, a JD(S) rebel, recently joined BJP. "Both Congress and JD(S) have become irrelevant," Gowda said.