Mysuru: All for votes! Their smiles... and tears too!

Mysuru: When politicians laugh, do they ring hollow? And when they cry, are they induced by glycerine and not real emotions?

Former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy for one swears that his tears are always genuine whether they are shed in Bengaluru or in Mandya where his son Nikhil lost the recent Lok Sabha poll. Mr Kumaraswamy who was campaigning in bypoll bound Hunsur on Thursday, was irked by Union minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda's comment that shedding tears during elections was their ( Deve Gowda family's) family business. “I will say that our family has a patent over it (shedding tears). Ours is a life of emotions and tears are an expression of pain in our hearts,” Kumaraswamy quipped while talking to reporters.

He did not forget to take a swipe at the 'ever smiling' Sadananda Gowda remarking,  “I don't keep posing with a smile like  Sadananda Gowda does always.”

He challenged Sadananda Gowda to explain how many flood-hit people he had assisted. “How many poor people come to your house and how many of them secured any relief from you? Come to our house or send your intelligence team from the Centre. Even after 70 years of independence, there are people coming to us without food and clothes. When I see them I get upset," Kumaraswamy said.

Continuing in the same vein, he referred to Sadananda Gowda's statement that people earlier used to watch 'drama' for 100 days or 200 days.. "Yes, you will say so because you come from the region where dramas are played," said Kumaraswamy commenting on  coastal Karnataka from where the minister hails and where the Yaksha Gana form of classical dance-drama is popular.

On inviting sulking former minister and Chamundeshwari JD(S) MLA Mr G.T. Devegowda for the bypoll campaign, he said, “My brother's son  Prajwal Revanna has already met him and requested him to join the campaign. It is left to him to decide.”