Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda has accused senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah of being responsible for the collapse of the coalition government in Karnataka.
In an interview with The Hindu, father of former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deve Gowda said after the coalition government of Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) was formed in the state, Siddaramaiah’s aim was to have BJP leader BS Yediyurappa as CM and become Leader of Opposition.
According to Deve Gowda, Siddaramaiah was not consulted by Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi before they decided on the coalition. “The fight was between him and HD Kumaraswamy, and it became difficult for him to see Kumaraswamy as the chief minister. He was hurt and angry. His resolve to destroy JD(S) became stronger after his defeat in Mysuru (Chamundeshwari),” he said.
Deve Gowda claimed that Siddaramaiah had started damaging the JD(S) in 2004 when he was a party member. “He is angry with me for not making him the CM in 1996 when I left for Delhi to take over as Prime Minister, and again in 2004 when the coalition was formed,” said Deve Gowda.
In 2004, when the Congress and JD(S) formed a coalition government, Dharam Singh was appointed as CM and Siddaramaiah was named Deputy CM.
The JD(S) veteran also questioned the performance of Siddaramaiah as a Leader of Opposition, saying, “Except for going to Ballari (padayatra against illegal mining), what had he done as Leader of Opposition?” The “real fighter” was Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah showed only “tokenism”, he added.
The Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka collapsed on July 22 after the confidence motion moved by then CM HD Kumaraswamy was defeated in the assembly, ending his 14-month-long turbulent tenure.
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