Bengaluru, Mar 8 (DHNS): JD(S) State president H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday attacked the Siddaramaiah government over the clean chit given to Energy Minister D K Shivakumar in the Shanthinagar Co-operative Society scam.

At a membership drive at Hennur here, Kumaraswamy made a sarcastic comment against Co-operation Minister H S Mahadevappa, who gave a clean chit to Shivakumar. “It is like one thief trying to protect the other,” he said.

He took a dig at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for claiming that he or his government had not denotified a single gunta of land in Arkavathi Layout. “Do they think that we do not know where he has denotified? We have brought out all the irregularities committed by Siddaramaiah and his government. The chief minister is not King Harishchandra,” said Kumaraswamy.

Earlier, inaugurating the JD(S) membership drive, party national president H D Deve Gowda said that he never believed in black magic. “We are not believers in black magic, but have faith in the gods. The kind of statements emanating from the Congress party shows their level of thinking,” he said. Gowda said that the new JD(S) party office, to be named JP Bhavan, will be built with money from party workers and the public.