Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol, who holds the Public Works portfolio, claimed that the Congress is divided into five groups and leaders of most of these groups have distanced themselves from the ongoing bypoll campaign.
Addressing the media here on Friday, Mr Karjol said the groups are headed by Shamanur Shivashankarappa, M.B. Patil, Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge and D.K. Shivakumar. All these leaders are at loggerheads with each other. After the elections, the state will be free of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), he claimed. Mr Karjol also charged that during his campaign, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah was using inappropriate language against BJP leaders.
He cautioned the opposition leader and demanded an apology from him. He also advised former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy not to cry in public as he had enjoyed all positions in public life.
"Mr. Siddaramaiah accused Anand Singh (Vijayanagar BJP candidate) saying he had sold himself to the BJP. I would like to ask him if he sold himself to the Congress when he joined that party quitting the JD(S) many years ago? If he (Siddaramaiah) had provided good governance, the Congress strength would not have fallen to 76 from 124 in the 2018 elections,” Mr. Karjol remarked.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader felt the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) will never unite in future though former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda had already started day dreaming of forming the government with the Congress after the bypolls.
