Key 'Operation Kamala' figure joins Congress

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru / Mandya: In what may be a sign of which way the wind is blowing as the polls approach, Kadalur Uday Gowda, a former gambling don who was instrumental in executing 'Operation Kamala' to unseat the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July 2019, joined the Congress paty on Monday. Uday, who takes his name from his native village of Kadalur in Maddur taluk in Mandya district, is known to be close to former Congressman and current BJP MLC CP Yogeshwar.

He had even lobbied for Yogeshwar's induction in then chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet but failed. Later in in March 2020, Gowda fell out with Yediyurappa and later, his businesses were raided by law enforcement agencies. Since then, Uday has clarified that he no longer owns casinos and has pivoted to real estate, even claiming that raids against him were political vendetta.

Interestingly, his businesses were raided in November 2018 as well by the income tax department, alleg- edly at the behest of then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, in apparent retaliation for his attempts to engineer defections of Congress and JD(S) MLAs to the BJP.

When questioned about how moral it was for the party to induct an individual who had brought down their coalition government, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar defended the decision, saying he knew nothing of Uday’s involvement in Operation Kamala, adding that nothing was static in politics.

“Who says he was involved in Operation Kamala? Let them do anything while they are in a rival party. A Manju, who had been with us has now joined the JD(S). On the other hand, those who had been a part of JD(S), be it Shivalinge Gowda (Arsikere MLA), Gubbi Vasu (MLA SR Srinivas), Madhu Bangarappa (now KPCC OBC wing president) and several others have joined the Congress fold. I and Kumaraswamy have fought against each other in the past. However, we also joined hands when we were asked to by our high command. Such developments in politics are but natural,” he said.

However, Shivakumar pushed back against the claim that the new inductees had been promised tickets, insisting that fresh entrants, no matter how lofty they may be in politics, were party workers first and had to join unconditionally and work for the organisation.