Shivakumar hits back at Deve Gowda

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Refusing to back down from the narrative war, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hit back against JD(S) national president HD Deve Gowda and legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy.

Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress chief, insisted that he hadn’t been poaching JD(S) leaders as was being implied by the JD(S) patriarch, but rather workers had been fleeing from the regional outfit because they hadn’t been committed to secular ideology.

He made the remarks at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office in Bengaluru on Monday while inducting JD(S) leaders into the Grand Old Party.

The Deputy CM was referring to comments by Deve Gowda at a meeting of JD(S) office bearers and lawmakers at Kumaraswamy’s farmhouse at Kattigenahalli village of Bidadi taluk in Ramanagara district.

On the occasion, the party leadership tried to boost the confidence of the workers and convince them of their pre-poll alliance with the BJP for next year’s Lok Sabha election.

The cadre and party lawmakers alike also took an oath of loyalty to the JD(S). On the occasion, Deve Gowda had said: “DK Shivakumar says I will make JD(S) party into a zero and won’t let a single competent leader stay there. Your dream will not be fulfilled. Mr DK, your dirty politics will not work with me. You know well what our party is capable of.”

Shivakumar said that inducting former JD(S) leaders into Congress on Gandhi Jayanti was fitting.

“Respected Deve Gowda, you and your leaders said several times that you wouldn’t cozy up to the BJP. However, you have gone back on your word now. Whatever your politics, how can the innocent accept your tie-up with the BJP? Under such circumstances, should I not welcome people who come to our party for ideological reasons?” he said, adding that JD(S) members would join Congress even if they were restrained and “tied up”.

The Karnataka Congress chief pointed out that JD(S) had welcomed CM Ibrahim to their party last year and made him the state president. He had been a Congress MLC at the time.

“He (Ibrahim) said that he wasn’t consulted before the alliance (with the BJP was finalized). Many leaders from your party have expressed the same sentiment. They are looking towards Congress now,” he said.

HDK threatening retirement not helping: DKS

Shivakumar also trained his guns at Kumaraswamy claiming that his offering to quit repeatedly had sapped the confidence of JD(S) workers.

He was referring to comments made by Kumaraswamy. He’d said that if he wasn’t able to solve the problems of the state with the help of the Union government in the next five years, he’d quit.

JD(S) former MLA, others join Cong

Shivakumar on Monday welcomed JD(S) leader and former Channapatna MLA MC Ashwath into Congress alongside his supporters and workers from Ramanagara district.

Other inductees from the regional outfit included Channapatna Municipal Council president Zabiullah Khan, MC Kariappa, Bhoje Gowda and others.

Prominent Congress leaders like Zameer Ahmed Khan, DK Suresh, Ramalinga Reddy and Vinay Kulakarni welcomed them into the party fold.