Bengaluru: Calling Chief Minister Siddaramaiah his "old friend" Janata Dal (S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda on Wednesday refused to comment on his four years in government.
Rather than tear into the Congress party, the veteran leader and former Prime Minister refused to rise to the bait when asked for his opinion on its four years in office at a Meet the Press programme, saying, “How can I do that? Mr Siddaramaiah is my old friend. I don't want to comment on his administration."
Also refusing to comment on senior Congress leaders like S.M. Krishna and Ambarish planning to join the BJP, he, however, accused the saffron party of using powerful leaders from other parties to strengthen its base in the state.
Recalling that former Chief Minister, S Bangarappa had also joined the BJP , but left it later, he said Mr Krishna was a senior leader ,who had his ups and downs in the Congress.
" He will analyse the situation from his own perspective. I don't want to comment on the issue," he added. Asked if he was ignoring his elder son, Revanna and favouring his other son, Kumaraswamy, he shot back, “The JD(S) is not a family party. It was J.H. Patel, who made Revanna minister and not I. Mr Kumaraswamy accidentally came into politics and joined hands with the BJP to become Chief Minister. Mr Revanna was not part of it. He was never a contender for the CM's post as all the work was done by Kumaraswamy. There are no differences in our family."
