HD Kumaraswamy to Siddaramaiah: Out with it, Congress in cahoots with BJP?

Belagavi: Janata Dal (S) state chief H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah clarify rumours that the Congress was ready to form an alliance with the BJP to form the next government in the state should it fall short of a majority in the coming assembly poll.

The JD(S) leader, who was here to attend his party’s Kumara Parva rally at Muddebihal, near Vijayapura, also wanted to know if Mr Siddaramaiah would take all MLAs in his group along with him to form a government with the BJP's support if the poll returned a fractured verdict. Claiming that Mr Siddaramaiah and a few other leaders had met BJP veteran, L K Advani prior to the 2008 Lok Sabha polls to offer their support to the saffron party if it helped the Congress win in eight or nine seats, he said the Chief Minister should practice what he preached before calling upon people to defeat candidates with a communal background.

Coming down hard on both the state and Centre for neglecting Vijayapura, he rubbish claims of Water Resources Minister, M B Patil, that the government had spent Rs 30,000 crore on irrigation projects in the region.

“Neither has any quality work been done in the irrigation sector nor is water flowing into canals in the region,” he regretted. As for the likelihood of him contesting from Devarhippargi constituency, Mr Kumaraswamy said he would consult the people of his Ramnagar constituency before taking a decision.

Earlier, speaking to reporters at Almatti, he wanted to know if the government saw farmers as terrorists as cases were being blatantly filed against them by the police and demanded that it withdraw those filed against them over their protests for Mahadayi water and the Kudgi power plant.

He also objected to the state government's move to drop cases against people of minority communities.