Don’t indulge in ‘politics of hate’, CM tells Deve Gowda

Hassan: Launching a scathing attack on JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda in his native, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday accused the former PM of not allowing others to grow politically, including those from his own Vokkaliga community.

Gowda’s time in politics is over, the CM said here and urged the 92-year-old leader not to indulge in “politics of hate and malice” if he wanted to continue. “Your time is over (in politics) Deve Gowda... He has said that he will do politics till his last breath. Let him do it, I don’t have any objections. May god give him good health. But, don’t do politics of hate and malice. Don’t speak about finishing someone politically,” Siddaramaiah said.

Addressing the ‘Jana Kalyana Samavesha’, a convention jointly organised by the state Congress and Swabhimanigala Okkuta (federation organisations of oppressed communities) here, he said, “I want to tell Deve Gowda, by joining hands with the communal forces, you don’t have any right to keep your party’s name as Janata Dal (Secular).”

Alleging that Deve Gowda won’t allow anyone else other than his family to grow politically, Siddaramaiah said, let alone others, he won’t even allow Vokkaligas to grow. Listing out names of various Vokkaliga leaders who were once close to Gowda, he said, “Mr Deve Gowda please tell me whom did you allow to grow... Gowda always says that I made Siddaramaiah the Finance Minister (during Janata Dal govt), so he grew as a leader. If I and Jalappa (former Minister R L Jalappa) were not there in 1994, it wouldn’t have been possible for you to become CM... we made you CM instead of Ramakrishna Hegde.”

Deve Gowda shed tears during the recent Channapatna by-polls to ensure the victory of his grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy, but did he come to Hassan and express grief, when people here, especially women were in pain? he asked, apparently referring to victims of alleged sexual abuse by his other grandson and former MP Prajwal Revanna.

Pointing out that Congress currently held one out of seven Assembly segments in the Hassan district, Siddaramaiah said the party won the Hassan Lok Sabha seat and expressed hope that in the next Assembly poll the party will win all the seven seats.

Several Congress leaders including Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, number of Ministers from the state cabinet participated in the convention, held at the Vokkaliga bastion of Hassan, which is considered a JD(S) stronghold.

The convention was initially planned by the federation of organisations of oppressed communities as a Siddaramaiah-centric mega “show of strength” event, in solidarity with the Chief Minister, who is facing allegations in the MUDA site allotment scam.

However, the Congress party’s involvement as the joint host of the event was confirmed by the Chief Minister himself last week, amid reports that a section of leaders within the party were against such an event being organised outside the party framework.

The state Congress led by its President Shivakumar had also renamed the convention as ‘Jana Kalyana Samavesha’ from ‘Siddaramaiah Swabhimaani Janandolana Samavesha’. Siddaramaiah, however said that he insisted that the party should also be included and hence this event was organised jointly by state Congress and ‘Swabhimanigal Okkuta’.