Cong nearing its end in Karnataka, Kumaraswamy tells Rahul

Former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that the grand old party “is nearing its end” in Karnataka.

Kumaraswamy was reacting to Rahul’s criticism of regional parties during the Congress’s Chintan Shivir. The former AICC president said regional parties cannot defeat the BJP as “they do not have an ideology”. This irked Kumaraswamy, who took to Twitter to hit back.

“The Congress, which is facing a phobia of regional parties, has lost its identity in Andhra, Telangana, Odisha and other states. In Karnataka, the Congress is nearing its end. It’s good if Rahul Gandhi understands this,” Kumaraswamy said.

The JD(S) leader asked Rahul to explain what "ideological commitment" means. “Using Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination as an excuse to bring the DMK’s link with LTTE to the fore, the IK Gujral-led Samyukta Ranga government was made to fall. The Congress later placed its hand on the shoulder of the same party,” Kumaraswamy pointed out.

“For ten years, the UPA 1 and 2 governments under Dr Manmohan Singh had DMK in the Cabinet. Is this ideological commitment?” he asked. “Rahul, who says only Congress can defeat BJP, shouldn’t forget that his party enjoyed power for 10 years because of the strength and charity of regional parties,” he said.

Kumaraswamy also raked up the fall of the JD(S)-Congress coalition in 2019. “You came to our doorstep to form a coalition government and then went backdoor to help Operation Lotus. Is this ideological commitment? Is this the ideological politics that eats up allies?” he said.

Kumaraswamy’s barbs come at a time when the H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) is trying to position itself as a regional player taking on the two national parties - BJP and Congress - ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.