HD Kumaraswamy slams Congress: Days after the coalition government in Karnataka collapsed after losing the trust vote in the Assembly, former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has come down hard on alliance partner Congress. Kumaraswamy, who was forced to face the trust motion after 16 rebel MLAs resigned last month, said he worked like a slave of the Congress for 14 months.
Visibly pained by the developments leading to his ouster, the JD-S leader said no one appreciated him for the good work he did during his short stint.
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“Even when MLAs used to come without taking an appointment,I met them. Whatever requests they had for the development of their constituencies,I took decisions on them immediately. What previous Congress government couldn’t achieve, I did in 14 months,” Kumarawamy told news agency ANI.
“I had given full freedom to all the MLAs, and even Corporation Chairmen, why they are blaming me I don’t know. For the last 14 months, I worked like a slave for these MLAs and our coalition partners (Congress),” he went on to add.
Kumaraswamy claimed that despite the Congress central leadership wanting to join hands with the JD-S after the state delivered a fractured mandate after Assembly elections, some of the local Congress leaders were against the coalition.
“After the fractured verdict in our state, the Congress leadership wholeheartedly wanted to join hands with JD-S and they wanted to form the government. But some local leaders were not interested according to my sources,” the former Karnataka CM said.
Kumaraswamy’s outburst against the Congress comes a couple of days after he dropped hints of quitting politics. Admitting that he was an ‘accidental CM’, Kumaraswamy on Saturday said that he was planning to ‘step aside’.
“I am someone who wants to step aside from all this. It was by accident that I became the Chief Minister and it is by accident that I became a politician. I was given two chances by God to be the Chief Minister twice. And I have been satisfied that I did not do anything to please others. I have taken a step back,” he told reporters in Kannada in Hassan.
Kumaraswamy had made public his unhappiness during his tenure too. In July, 2018, less than two months after assuming charge as CM, Kumaraswamy broke down during a meeting of his party leaders while comparing himself to Lord Shiva. “You are all happy that your elder or younger brother has become the chief minister, but I am not happy. I am swallowing the pain like Vishakantha (Lord Shiva),” an emotional Kumaraswamy had said.