BENGALURU: Undeterred by the barrage of criticism against him for his alleged anti-Brahmin remarks from various quarters, former Karnataka CM and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy stuck to his guns and lashed out at the BJP, accusing the party of running a campaign against him on social media.
It may be recalled that the controversy broke out when HDK had said that if the BJP wins the Assembly polls, they will make a leader of the Maratha Peshwa dynasty the next chief minister, referring to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, he clarified, “I will not succumb to distortions being attributed to me.” He clarified that he had said that the state BJP was planning to make a person from the Peshwa lineage the next CM. He said there was no confusion in his statement that the Sri Sringeri Peetha, revered by many Kannadigas, had faced a diabolical attack by the Peshwas. “This is pure history. I don’t need to distort this written history,” Kumaraswamy said.
Asked about him being targeted by right-wing groups, he said, “When they did not spare Shivaji Maharaj, Jagajyoti Basaveshwara, Gautam Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, how can they spare me now? Their weapons are slander, abuse and provocation. I will not fear any of these. I stand by my statement that they are going to install a leader of the Peshwa lineage in Vidhana Soudha as CM. Why is the BJP not responding to this question?”