BENGALURU : Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has said that his real political career will begin in 2023. “All these years what I did was temporary. My real journey will begin in 2023 by bringing the JDS government to power without any support,” he said Hitting out at Congress leader Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy said the former chief minister is at his mercy and not the other way round.
Reacting to Siddaramiah’s statement on the JDS merging with the BJP, Kumaraswamy told reporters on Monday that there was no question of the former merging with any other party. "Congress leaders, especially the one who went from the JDS, is dreaming to kill the party which will not happen. He (Siddaramiah) is dreaming of finishing the JDS. The recent bypolls are not people’s verdict. We from the JDS will start many initiatives post Sankranthi in 2021. We will come back to power independently. My real political career will begin then," he said.
He also said that if according to Siddaramiah the JDS was the B party of the BJP, what compelled him or his party to form the government in the state by joining hands with the JDS. "Neither I nor my father is chasing power. We had clearly told them that let the CM be from the Congress, but Congress leaders, including Siddaramiah, did not accept this. Now they are blaming us," he said.
Kumaraswamy said he was responsible for making Siddaramiah Deputy CM in 2004. "Siddaramiah is at my mercy. I have spent my hard earned money on Siddaramiah and his political career. It is not the other way round. He has forgotten. When I became CM in 2006, he did not have a role, it was due to my strategy and hardwork," he said.