Days after the Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy broke down saying that he is swallowing the poison in the current state of the coalition government, former Assembly speaker and senior Congress leader, KB Koliwad, has come out in support of Kumaraswamy and said that certain Congress leaders are ‘tormenting‘ the chief minister. Without disclosing names, he said that certain Congress leaders were not able to ‘digest’ the Congress-JDS alliance and are simmering from inside and hence troubling Kumaraswamy.
Hinting that it is former CM Siddaramaiah who is upset about the coalition, Koliwad said Mallikarjun Kharge and Parameshwara are supporting Kumaraswamy on Congress high command’s directions. However, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao refused to comment on Koliwad’s statement and distanced himself from the allegations on Siddaramaiah. ‘A CM needs to be strong,’ he said.
Meanwhile, another Congress leader A Manju said that Congress has not given poison but chief ministership to Kumaraswamy, including the finance portfolio demanded by JDS. Crying in public is unbecoming of a Chief Minister. Meanwhile, the BJP has mocked Kumaraswamy’s public breakdown by calling him ‘best actor’.
The ‘opportunistic alliance’ between the Congress and JD(S) in its craving to form the government in Karnataka, which was evidently nothing but a compromise, seems to be constantly grappling to accommodate each other.
In a pitching reference to some Congress leaders who are said to begrudging the Karnataka CM, H.D Kumaraswamy for latching on to the highest post, he, on Saturday, broke down at a JD(S) event and told party cadre that he would not keep the post at the cost of his self-esteem.
At the event which was organized to facilitate him on becoming the CM, a teary-eyed Kumaraswamy confessed that he is not happy with the present situation (of a coalition government) as it is a source of pain for him, akin to swallowing poison.
Post-Karnataka elections, which concluded in May, BJP had emerged as the single largest party acquiring 104 seats. In this high-strung ‘Game of Thrones’ which had kept the entire nation on the edge of their seats, the Congress in its desperation to retain power was quick in teaming up with the JD(S) which was clearly nothing but a compromise.
And this eventually, almost immediately started showing up, when almost in no time an intense lobbying from both Congress and JDS for ministerial berths in the present government started surfacing. Congress party demanded two Deputy CM posts and reports suggests that JDS was not willing to consider. D K Shivakumar, one of the most powerful leaders of Karnataka Congress was also lobbying for the post, but the JDS was not keen to give in. Amidst this confusion, a Muslim faction had also demanded the post to be given to their community. As there are considerable MLAs from the Lingayat community, they too demanded the Deputy Chief Minister post for their community creating a considerable amount of internal turbulence. This is somehow just the beginning, the climax to this high-octane drama is yet to unfold.
