The surprise move by Janata Dal (S) state president H D Kumaraswamy to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi with his face covered to avoid media glare has become a target of ridicule by BJP leaders.
State BJP general secretary C T Ravi on Wednesday described it as “yet another political drama by the father and son duo”.
Former MLA and Mandya BJP candidate L R Shivarame Gowda criticised it at a separate press meet, saying it exposed the hollowness of the JD(S) which was denying it had any “inner pact” with the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.
Kumaraswamy, who had shared power with the Congress initially and later switched alliance to the BJP to form another coalition government in Karnataka and remain chief minister for 20 more months, met Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday evening, triggering speculation he was eyeing a ministerial berth by extending support to a Congress-led government at the Centre.
Within hours after Kumaraswamy’s move, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had come out with a strongly worded statement reiterating his party’s stand against the Congress and the BJP. “I was amused at the tendency of some to write the obituary of the Third Front even before the last phase of the LS polls,” said Deve Gowda.
This was followed by a denial by Kumaraswamy that his meeting with the AICC president had anything to do with the formation of the next government at the Centre and he had only discussed matters relating to Karnataka with her.
“The father and son duo has started a new drama now,” said Ravi at a press meet in Mysore and charged that they were cheating voters who had voted for the JD(S), expressing confidence in it.
Recalling his party’s charge the JD(S) was in cahoots with the Congress in fielding candidates in the state, the BJP leader said: “We were telling the people that JD(S) would let down them. But we too never expected them to would do so soon and so fast.”
“Even before the conclusion of the polling, the former chief minister rushed to Delhi to strike an understanding with the Congress for a ministerial berth in any manner possible,” Ravi said, reiterating confidence that the BJP would win 21 of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka.
With this confidence, he said the BJP had launched a programme to strengthen the party at grassroot levels for scoring a victory in the coming Legislative Council, Zilla Panchayat, taluk panchayat and other elections. A review meeting was scheduled at Chamarajanagar today, the party leader said, defending ‘Operation Kamala’. He also rejected the prediction of Kodi Mutt Swamiji that B S Yeddyurappa may lose power shortly.
Making a similar attack on the JD(S), Shivarame Gowda ciriticised that Kumaraswamy’s meeting with the Congress president had exposed its “true colours.” JD (S) is ready to discard political ideologies for power, he remarked.
