Taking pot-shots at Congress Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, the State JD(S) President and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy held the former Congress Chief Minister squarely responsible for the present communal strife and vitiated atmosphere in Karnataka.
Speaking to media persons in Kolar on Sunday, the JD(S) leader blamed Siddaramaiah-led Congress government for the present situation of preventing non-Hindus, especially Muslims, from carrying out trade in the Hindu jatras and temple premises and also for the hijab controversy taking an ugly turn.
Kumaraswamy also blamed the former Congress Chief Minister for the collapse of his coalition government with the Congress party and thereby paving the way for the birth of the BJP rule in the State.
“I reluctantly accepted the Congress party’s unconditional offer of support to form the government even though I was not prepared for it and have burnt my fingers. Even in 2004, we had extended support to Congress. But we were humiliated and the decisions that we took were mainly because of the scheming by Siddaramaiah,’’ he accused.
Kumaraswamy lashed out at Siddaramaiah for his ‘’false propaganda’’ alleging that JD(S) was ‘’BJP’s B Team’’ in the 2018 polls and because of this BJP secured 105 seats, which otherwise would have been hardly 75.
The JD(S) leader said the Congress leader had a “secret understanding and adjustment with BJP’’ and alleged that he was behind the recent communal clashes and disturbances in the State.
“Both BJP and Congress are the two faces of the same coin. There is no difference in their policies and they do not want people to live peacefully and are playing dirty political games,’’ he alleged and claimed that people have become wise and would not tolerate such callous behaviour.
