Bengaluru: The trust vote session was marked with a frontal attack on the BJP by Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, who said: “I should thank the Supreme Court, which asked Mr Yeddyurappa to prove his majority within a day. We don’t know what would have happened if more time was given.’’
Reacting to the BJP’s allegations of “resort politics,” against the Congress and his party, Mr Kumaraswamy recalled that both the saffron party and the JD(S)’s legislators were also holed up in a resort when their coalition government was formed in 2006. “Now BJP leaders are sympathetic to our legislators, saying they were held captive,” he noted caustically.
As for his association with the BJP, Mr Kumaraswamy said, “I agree that I became CM for the first time with its help. But that also helped open the doors for the BJP in South India. I agree I have made a small contribution to that.’’ But seeming to regret that association, he recalled that two months after taking over as CM, a BJP MLC had thrown a '150-crore bribery charge at him. “An FIR too was filed, charging me with giving supari to murder one of my cabinet colleagues. All through I was harassed,” he said. Refuting the allegation that he had gone back on his word on transferring power to the BJP at the time, Mr Kumaraswamy recalled that Mr Yeddyurappa had admitted he had made him CM for nine days when he formed the breakaway KJP. Mr Kumaraswamy, however, appealed to members of the Opposition to lay politics to rest and concentrate on development of the state.
Not to be outdone, Mr Yeddyurappa in his reply contended that the people’s mandate had been thrown to the wind and the Congress and JD(S) had resorted to opportunistic politics in forming the government. He described his decision to join hands with Mr Kumaraswamy for 20 months as the biggest mistake of his life and asserted that his struggle would be against the “father-son party”(JD-S) and not the Congress.
Addressing the Congress, he asked, “Why did you extend unconditional support and why did you not ask for the CM’s post? Be careful about the father and son. They will destroy your party within no time. I know Mr Kumaraswamy better than the Congress. He was CM and I was DyCM. It was agreed that the posts would be switched later. But after 20 months, while transferring power, father and son started putting new conditions, which ended the coalition. The 20 months administration with Mr Kumaraswamy was my mistake and I apologise to the people.”
Speaker at his best
With Ramesh Kumar returning as Speaker for the second time, there was no dearth of humour in the House. Whenever the situation heated up between Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa, he injected some humour, lightening the situation.
At one point of time, Mr Yeddyurappa warned senior Congress leader, D K Shivakumar that his future was at stake as he had protected his party’s MLAs and made Mr Kumaraswamy Chief Minister and even referred to him as the villain of the piece. Mr Shivakumar at once objected, saying he had only done as told by his party president Rahul Gandhi. An amused Mr Ramesh Kumar interjected to say, “Shivakumar, one man’s food is another man’s poison. You can’t be hero for all.”
When Mr Kumaraswamy tried to defend his rise to power saying he had worked and suffered for the last ten years, and that it was his fate to become CM for the second time, Mr Ramesh Kumar commented tongue in cheek, “Mr Kumaraswamy will not know anything about his fate. If you want to know , you need to ask Mr Revanna (his brother and senior party leader).” Mr Revanna is known as the “super astrologer” of the Deve Gowda family.
While referring to the bribery allegations levelled against him by former BJP leader, Janardhan Reddy when he was Chief Minister, Mr Kumaraswamy said he was still looking for that Rs 150 crore. Mr Ramesh Kumar piped in to say, “If you find it, send some of it to me too.”
Tit for tat... and more
Defending his decision of joining hands with Congress, Mr Kumaraswamy said that he had tarnished his father Mr Deve Gowda’s image of being secular by joining hands with BJP. “In his entire six decades of politics, my father was CM for 18 months and PM for 10 months. Before that, he was irrigation minister for three years. When Congress withdrew its support in Parliament, Mr Vajapayee sent a slip, offering BJP support to my father. He declined to accept the proposal and stepped down. That was testimony for his secular credentials and we are not after power,’’ Mr Kumaraswamy said.
BSY: Mr Siddaramaiah was treated shabbily after losing elections. The Congress leaders conspired against him, made G.T. Deve Gowda contest against him and defeated him.
HDK: BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, in an article for a leading English daily has said that the Congress supported JD(S) to avoid Mr Siddaramaiah going to jail due to large scale corruption. Even BSY had said it many times during election campaign.
