Shivakumar slams HDK over 'Ajit Pawar-Shinde' remark

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Friday hit back against JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy over his comments about the emergence of an Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde in Karnataka.

The JD(S) bigwig was referring to the nephew of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, Ajit going over to the BJP in Maharashtra along with 40 MLAs from the party back in July. Ajit was made the deputy chief minister as a result.

The move came in the backdrop of Sharad choosing his daughter Supriya Sule for the post of working president of NCP over Ajit. Similarly, in June 2022, Eknath Shinde had walked out of Shiv Sena with 40 MLAs.

Shinde went on to become Maharashtra’s CM. Kumaraswamy has made similar comments before and these remarks are seen as an attack on Deputy CM DK Shivakumar.

The JD(S) leader has been trying to raise doubts about Shivakumar’s loyalty to the Congress, suggesting that he would go over to the BJP to have cases against him dropped.

“Anything can happen in this state’s politics. Circumstances are such that we should expect the unexpected,” Kumaraswamy said.

“In Karnataka, there’s an Ajit Pawar equivalent and someone similar to Shinde as well. Let’s see who will come forth first,” he added.

Shivakumar responded by sarcastically remarking on Kumaraswamy’s penchant for astrology, adding that the JD(S) leader was unable to come to terms with the fact that the Congress was in power and he wasn’t.

He made the remarks during his interactions with mediapersons at Freedom Park where he and his party colleagues were staging a protest against suspension of Opposition MPs during the recent Parliament winter session.

“Kumaraswamy is omniscient. He knows astrology. I don’t have the power to stop him from talking. Let him continue dropping gems such as these. He is unable to digest the fact that Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar are in power and is therefore making desperate comments,” Shivakumar said.