BENGALURU: Former Prime Minister and Rajya Sabha member HD Deve Gowda, albeit in a subtle way, hit back at Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Kharge over the latter’s reported light- hearted comment on the former in his absence in the Upper House.
“He made a light-hearted comment in Parliament about me having been in love with them (Congress) but married Modi Ji (BJP) eventually. He also said he did not know the reason as to why I did so. If I were to respond to my friend in the same language of marriage, I would like to say that I was in a forced marriage with the Congress but had to divorce them because it was an abusive relationship,” Deve Gowda posted on social media platform X.
Gowda said he was not present as he had to leave for Bengaluru to attend Ugadi celebrations back home.
“Kharge will remember that in 2018 Congress sent Ghulam Nabi Azad and offered HD Kumaraswamy the CM post. I did not consent to this. I told in everybody’s presence that Kharge should be made CM. Siddaramaiah was also there.
However, Azad insisted on Kumaraswamy’s leadership. But after all this song, dance and a wedding, what did they do in 2019? They dumped us. How many Congress MLAs defected to BJP and who sent them across is now common knowledge. If Congress had acted against the person who instigated defection that day, today my friend, Kharge, would be in a better position as AICC president,” the JDS supremo said.
“So to put the record straight, I did not desert the Congress alliance. It is they who walked away. They left me with no choice but to divorce them and seek a more stable alliance,” he said.