In a scathing attack, BJP’s Karnataka president BS Yeddyurappa called Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and his father HD Deve Gowda “most opportunistic” politicians in the country. Yeddyurappa also targeted the JDS-Congress alliance and called for an agitation state-wide on Wednesday. “Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, you and Deve Gowda are most opportunistic politicians in the country,” Yeddyurappa said.
Calling Deve Gowda and son Kumaraswamy as synonyms for ‘betrayal’, Yeddyurappa hit out at the Chief Minister for a remark made by him on a protesting lady farmer in Belagavi on Sunday. “It is shameful on the part of the chief minister to make a disgraceful remark against a woman farmer. It is also arrogance to call the protesting farmers goondas and dacoits,” Yeddyurappa said.
Describing the chief minister’s remarks against the woman ‘derogatory,’ he lambasted Kumaraswamy and said that those in public life should accept criticism gracefully. “Power seems to have gone into the chief minister’s head. If they (Congress-JDS alliance)have self-respect they should ask the CM to implement the decisions or quit the post,” Yeddyurappa said.
However, farmers have been protesting in Belagavi for the last few days demanding the dues by sugar factories cleared. The protesters took the extreme step of “gatecrashing” the loaded trucks into “Suvarna Vidhana Soudha”. Kumaraswamy reacted strongly to the move by the protesters and called them “goondas” and said that protesters are bringing disrepute to the entire farming community.
While taking potshots, Yedyurappa reminded Kumaraswamy of the full support he had provided to the JD(S) for the government it formed, though it lasted for 20 months. Yedyurappa also raked up the issue of alleged insult by Deve Gowda to former chief ministers Ramkrishna Hegde and S R Bommai. Yedyurappa also alleged that the father-son duo also insulted former CM and Congressman Siddaramaiah.
Reminding that he had given full support to the JD(S)-led 20 months government, Yeddyurappa accused Kumaraswamy of “betrayal” then. Accusing Gowda of insulting former chief ministers like Ramkrishna Hegde and S R Bommai, he said the father-son duo had also insulted former chief minister Siddaramaiah by trying to end his political career by ensuring his loss in the Chamundeshwari assembly constituency in Mysuru. “…I think Siddaramaiah is tolerating all the insults and is waiting for the right time,” he said.
ALSO READ: Karnataka bypolls results: Kumaraswamy says moral victory for alliance