Bengaluru: Deve Gowda attacks Congress, Siddaramaiah hits back

Bengaluru : After JD(S) supremo H. D. Deve Gowda defended poll pact with the BJP and attacked the Congress for chiding the party on secular values, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hit back saying that "post stitching an alliance with the saffron party, JD(S) should not call itself secular".

Addressing a joint press conference with his son, former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda said, "They (Congress) had defeated Farooq Abdullah. The Congress party has committed blunders. I can give 100 examples of Congress betraying the JD (S) party. We don't care for anything. "We have not thought about doing away with secular principles. We will do anything to keep the secular values intact. I proclaim it," Deve Gowda said.

"Before Kumaraswamy’s meeting with BJP leaders, I had discussed with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. There is no need to hide. I explained in detail the situation of Karnataka and asked him to set things right and later Kumaraswamy met him.