Kumaraswamy dubs Siddaramaiah state’s Nero

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Keeping up his attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for the second day in a row, JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy branded the former “the Nero of Karnataka”.

The former CM was referring to the famous saying associated with the Roman emperor Nero: “Nero fiddled as Rome burned”.

Kumaraswamy claimed that it was insensitive on Siddaramaiah’s part to attend Friday’s Pakistan vs Australia match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru while the state was facing a shortage of electricity, besides a drought.

The comments come in the backdrop of the JD(S) leader’s claim on Saturday that the State government was creating an artificial scarcity of power. He has also alleged that electricity was being bought from private parties at a commission.

“Nero was playing the violin as the city of Rome was burning. When the people were in trouble, Karnataka’s Nero was watching a cricket match,” Kumaraswamy said.

A day prior he had mockingly asked Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM Shivakumar if they had been supporting Pakistan in the cricket match.

The JD(S) state president also mocked Siddaramaiah for training his guns on Kumaraswamy with the allegations that he ran the State government from the West End Hotel or the label of BJP B team.

The former CM pointed out that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meeting of pan-India Opposition leaders had taken place at the West End in Bengaluru back in July.