Shivakumar says Kumaraswamy is set to take away power from Ashok, Vijayendra

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Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy and BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra. | Photo Credit: File Photo

Claiming that several Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) leaders were on the way to join the Congress, Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Sunday took a swipe at the BJP-JD(S) alliance, stating that Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy would take away power from Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok and BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra when the elections near.

“When the elections near, Mr. Ashok and Mr. Vijayendra will have no power. Someone else (Mr. Kumaraswamy) would land through a parachute. Mr. Kumaraswamy is waiting to see if he can get something by bringing these two down. That is why he is giving statements every day and saying that he would explode a bomb,” the Chief Minister said during an event in which former two-time legislator N.L. Narendra Babu rejoined the Congress from the BJP.

“Of the 13 legislators who went to the BJP (those who crossed over to the BJP in what was termed Operation Kamala in 2019), only three or four persons are still active. One cannot survive in the BJP. However, anyone can come to the Congress and survive,” he said.

Asking Mr. Kumaraswamy to create at least 50,000 jobs in the State, he said that the government was willing to provide land anywhere, including Mandya, for this purpose. “However, he is saying that he will explode a bomb to bring me down. Let him do whatever he wants to do to us. Let him take us to the Directorate of Enforcement or the Central Bureau of Investigation. Why is it that he takes a stay from the court when there is an investigation against him? I won’t go to such things because I do not want hate,” he remarked.

The Chief Minister also took a dig at the Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya’s, opposition to the tunnel project on the grounds that the rock formation in Lalbagh would be affected. “He had not seen the rock even once,” Mr. Shivakumar said.

He also recalled Mr. Surya’s controversial remarks in 2019, when he said only “the uneducated, illiterates, and puncture-wallahs” opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act. The remark was interpreted as one that was against Muslims.

Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Shivakumar claimed that several BJP and JD(S) leaders were on the way to join the Congress. “They are discussing with me, the party president (B.K. Hariprasad) and other leaders. I have authorised district Ministers and party leaders to make a list of them. We will give space and accommodate those who believe in our ideology and party leaders. The younger generation should be given an opportunity,” he said.

Are the guarantees given by the Congress government in Karnataka copied in the U.S.? Yes, according to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who on Sunday said that U.S. President Donald Trump, too, has copied the Congress’s guarantees.

“Parties opposed to us claimed that guarantees cannot be implemented. However, we have become a model through the guarantees.