HDK fires at DK bros from BJP’s shoulder

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The statement by former Chief Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D.Kumaraswamy on the Ramanagara ruckus came as a huge shot in the arm for the BJP which lacks an influential Vokkaliga leader to take on the DK brothers.

Hours after the video showing the heated exchange of words between Higher Education Minister Dr.C.S. Ashwath Narayana and Bengaluru Rural MP D.K. Suresh, at a government function to unveil the statues of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar and Nada Prabhu Kempe Gowda at the Deputy Commissioner’s office went viral, it was Kumaraswamy who first lashed out at D. K. Suresh for his behaviour on a dais shared with Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai.

Clearly, the rivalry between the DK brothers and Kumaraswamy for control of the Vokkaliga stronghold of Ramanagara is a huge driving force. HDK is deeply perturbed bv the fresh challenge posed by KPCC President D.K.Shivakumar and his plans to embark on a 175 km ten-day padayatra from Mekedatu to Bengaluru starting from Jan 9, in the Vokkaliga belt. In addition, the JD(S) leader realises that the padayatra is a major vote-winning gambit, and that it had been chalked out mainly to whip up support for the Congress party which had been white-washed in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Since the people of south Karnataka have an emotional connection to the Cauvery River, the Congress Party wants to use this issue to woo the voters, keeping in view the Assembly polls due to be held in April/May next year, insiders said.

From the very beginning, Kumaraswamy has termed the padayatra a stung to hoodwink the people of Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara and Chamarajanagar in the name of the Mekedatu drinking water project.

The project was conceptualised in 1968, why has the Congress remained silent all this time, Kumaraswamy demanded. At that time, the Congress was in power not only in the centre but also in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “Why has it suddenly woken up chanting ‘Mekedatu’? This drama is being enacted in an attempt to finish off the strong base that the JD(S) has in South Karnataka,” sources close to HDK told News Trail.

The Ramanagara incident and the padayatra have allowed JD(S) to fire at the DK brothers from over the BJP’s shoulders. It is a boon, perhaps unintended, for the BJP, for had the JD(S) strongman not come to their rescue, the saffron party may not have been able to take on the DK duo. Kumaraswamy has taken to Twitter, urging the state to begin the Mekedatu project since there is no opposition from the Supreme Court or the Union Government.