Congress Plays ‘Outsider’ Card Against Ex-CM In Mandya

Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is contesting Mandya Lok Sabha seat as a Janata Dal Secular (JDS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consensus nominee in upcoming elections. President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Monday termed Kumaraswamy as an “outsider” to the Mandya seat and stated that voters of Mandya have no history of giving away its political power to outsiders.” He appealed to Mandya voters to cast their votes keeping in mind their self-respect and pride for Mandya.

A couple of days back, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Mysuru had stated that the Congress party has fielded Venkataramane Gowda belonging to Mandya district while Kumaraswamy is an “outsider” to the Mandya seat.

He was in Mandya with Congress nominee Venkataramane Gowda accompanying him while he was filing his nomination papers and addressing the gathering, Shivakumar pointed out that “In a democratic set-up, any person can wish to contest in any seat of his choice but Kumaraswamy was born in Hassan district and took a plunge into politics from Ramnagar district but now he has shifted to Mandya.”

Shivakumar said that touring talkies politics (hopping from district to district) of Kumaraswamy, currently MLA of Channapatna Assembly seat in Ramnagar district, has no place in Mandya and people of Mandya have been known for their self-respect and self-reliance. From Ramnagar, he said, Kumaraswamy was elected as Lok Sabha member, MLA and also became the Chief Minister and now he has shifted to Mandya district to fight the upcoming polls and has been uttering that Mandya is his “karma bhoomi (work place)” In past, Kumaraswamy had termed Ramnagar as his ‘karma bhoomi.’

Pointing out at the history, the KPCC Chief said Congress made JDS supremo H.D. Devegowda the Prime Minister (1996) and later his son H.D. Kumaraswamy became Chief Minister with the support of Congress party (2018-19) with an assurance to rule the State for five years but BJP leaders toppled JDS-Congress coalition government.

Now, Kumaraswamy has joined hands with BJP who brought down his government in 2019, said Shivakumar and asked the former Chief Minister “If Congress tortured you when in coalition you could have allied with the BJP then itself?” and asked him “Why did you not step down immediately?”

On Kumaraswamy’s brother-in-law Dr C.N. Manjunath fighting elections on BJP symbol from Bengaluru Rural seat, KPCC Chief said “Where is JDS now when their own family member is contesting on BJP symbol?”