H D Kumaraswamy-Siddaramaiah battle roars on Twitter

Bengaluru: In perhaps the most bitter war of words between them, former Chief Ministers and coalition partners, Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy tore into each on Tuesday, accusing each other of  backstabbing and betrayal and indulging in name calling.

It all began with Mr Siddaramaiah tweeting Tuesday morning to say  that Mr Kumaraswamy was the "trusted parrot," who had turned hawk to " bite the Congress,"  which had extended his party friendship even after four decades of rivalry. "This was a great lesson," he added.

Reacting sharply from Chennapatna, Mr Kumaraswamy shot back that JD(S) supremo, Deve Gowda had fostered many "parrots" like Mr Siddaramaiah, who had backstabbed him.

"I did not become Chief Minister with the help of Siddaramaiah. The Congress high command supported me and  Siddaramaiah could not tolerate that and toppled the government. We have at least formed a regional party and are fighting. Let Siddaramaiah form his own regional party and we will see. He has been doing politics using other people's money and support,'' the JD(S) leader said, pouring scorn on his coalition partner of just a couple of months ago.

In response, Mr Siddaramaiah retorted that Mr Kumaraswamy was good at using people and dumping them and challenged him to become Chief Minister on his own steam.

Not to be outdone, the latter tweeted, "Everyone knows how  Siddaramaiah became Chief Minister by sidelining the original Congress leaders. I have never said that I became Chief Minister on my own. I first became Chief Minister with the help of  the BJP and later with the help of the Congress high command. They used me and dumped me.''

“I did not go to Congress leaders' houses to make me Chief Minister. They came to my house. Even when  Siddaramaiah was JD(S) president, I spent money on the party. We did not benefit from him,'' Kumaraswamy concluded sharply.