BENGALURU: Venting his anger at Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy for striking a deal with Congress to keep BJP away from power, former CM B S Yeddyurappa cautioned Congress leaders against the alleged greed for power and treachery of Kumaraswamy and his father H D Deve Gowda.
Yeddyurappa attacked Gowda and his sons — Kumaraswamy and Revanna — in his address in address in the Assembly, after Kumaraswamy moved the Confidence Motion. “Do not trust the father-son duo of JD(S). Kumarasway will do anything for power. The father and sons will finish Congress within a few months,” Yeddyurappa said.
Recalling his own experience of running a coalition with Kumaraswamy, he termed it as the biggest mistake of his political career. “Kumaraswamy is a cheat, he betrayed not only me, he did it to former CM Dharam Singh, betrayed Siddaramaiah, betrayed Zameer Ahmed Khan, Balakrishna, Cheluvarayaswamy and now he has betrayed the people of Karnataka by violating their mandate which was in favour of BJP. Kumaraswamy is ready to do anything for power – CM’s chair,”he said.
While the scathing attack on Kumaraswamy and Gowda drew cheers from BJP benches, silence in treasury benches conveyed a rift within the coalition as none of the members from Congress or JD(S) rose to defend Kumaraswamy, except his brother Revanna.
Referring to Kumaraswamy’s claim that Deve Gowda was deeply hurt by his (HDK’s) alliance with BJP in 2006, Yeddyurappa termed it as “a drama by father and sons. “If that was so why did Kumaraswamy enjoy power with us for 20 months? Gowda had written many letters to me and even summoned me to his residence many times to discuss various issues,” Yeddyurappa said.
Revanna tried to raise objection to Yeddyurappa’s charges, but his was a lone voice. Speaker Ramesh Kumar asked him to be a patient listener when the Leader of the Opposition is speaking, and this drew chuckles from many Congress members as they seemed to be enjoying Yeddyurappa’s attack on Gowda and sons.
Yeddyurappa seemed to use the occasion to expose the animosity between members of Congress and JD(S) and tried to widen the rift, expressing his sympathy for senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar and former CM Siddaramaiah.
Turning to Shivakumar, Yeddyurappa said, “You will repent soon for your mistake. You have made a person who has betrayed the state as the CM. We would have made you (Shivakumar) the CM. It is true that I had spoken to many Congress members, including Shivakumar, before the trust vote, but don’t worry I will not disclose what transpired,” Yeddyurappa said.
“Shivakumar, you want to be the CM, but will it be possible if you remain there,” Yeddyurappa asked and added, “You are sitting in the drowning boat of Kumaraswamy”. Then, he called Shivakumar “the villain who helped HDK become CM”.
Yeddyurappa took a dig at Congress leadership for the way Siddaramaiah has been neglected after cobbling up a coalition with JD(S). “My attack is only against power hungry JD(S) father-son duo not against Congress. It is a pity that nobody showed respect for Siddaramaiah, who till recently was the tallest leader in state Congress,” Yeddyurappa said.