Bengaluru: With no let-up in the ongoing spat between Chief Minister Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy and former chief minister Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa in the state Assembly, Speaker Mr Ramesh Kumar took charge of the situation and advised both of them not to get too excited, as it would do no good to their health. In his reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor's address, Mr Kumaraswamy chose to reply to some of the crucial comments made by opposition leaders against him like ‘betrayal’, ‘unholy alliance’, ‘violator of promises’ and ‘a child of circumstances’.
After his reply, when Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa started speaking, both leaders started arguing about what had happened 12 years ago during the tenure of the JD(S)-BJP coalition government headed by Mr Kumaraswamy in which Mr Yeddyurappa was Deputy CM. Intervening in their argument, Mr Ramesh Kumar said, “In politics, under special circumstances, we come together and share many things. However, raking up such issues does no good to the stature of the leaders involved. After we part, the years roll by and our life span comes down. At this age, it is not good to get excited over anything,” he said.
Sending a clear signal that he would not tolerate members standing up in support of their leaders, the Speaker said he would neither use the bell nor stand up and would just adjourn the House and go out. “Mr Kumaraswamy has good memory power and is keen in his observations. He can defend himself,” he said.
Mr Ramesh Kumar also held back a statement made by Mr Yeddyurappa, who charged that after the ‘betrayal’ by JD(S) in 2006 which led to the downfall of the Congress-JD(S) government led by Dharam Singh, the former CM died of shock. When Congress and JD(S) members objected to the statement, Mr Ramesh Kumar said the statement did not convey the right meaning and he would hold it back. After being ousted from power, Dharam Singh lived for many years. Had he died within a month or two of his ouster, one could have attributed his death to the betrayal, he said.
However, Mr Yeddyurappa continued in the same vein and said Mr Kumarasway's betrayal was not confined just to Mr Dharam Singh. “It is in your blood. As Deputy CM under you, I tolerated everything for 20 months. When I took over as CM in 2007, within six days, you and your father started putting conditions. So I resigned and went for elections,” Mr Yeddyurappa said. Mr Kumaraswamy took objection to the ‘betrayal in your blood’ remark which triggered another round of arguments between the treasury and opposition benches.
Earlier, during his reply to the debate, Mr Kumaraswamy said that opposition members had used all kinds of words to describe his government. “Mr Yeddyurappa termed ours an unholy alliance saying the JD(S) has only 37 members. When I became CM in 2006, I had broken away with 38 MLAs to join hands with the BJP, which had 79 members. How did it becomes unholy now when it was holy at that point of time?” he wondered. On the loan waiver scheme, Mr Kumaraswamy said some people were saying only Vokkaligas would benefit from the scheme and not other communities. Others were saying that North Karnataka had been neglected in the budget. “Don't reduce me to be a regional or community-based chief minister. I am chief minister for six crore people of the state,” Mr Kumaraswamy added.
