Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 29: Hurt by repeated claims of Congress leaders that having truck with the JD(S) in the state had resulted in setback for them and their party, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, hit back on Friday June 28 at them by questioning them whether they remember that the Congress had defeated B R Ambedkar twice.

"People have been discussing about who was defeated by whom. Even Ambedkar had been defeated by Congressmen twice," he jabbed at the Congress, as if taking cue from the BJP which has often raised the issue of the Congress, which is now trying to capitalize on Ambedkar's name, of having actually snubbed him in the past. The tone and tenor of his expression seemed to symbolize his opinion that Congress leaders were responsible for the defeat of veteran leader, Mallikarjun Kharge, in the recent Lok Sabha election. Deve Gowda also appeared to be critical of the Congress for overlooking dalit leaders of their party.

The statement has come out at a time when the rumblings created by comments passed against each other by the leaders of the coalition partners seemed to be dying down slowly. It has also roused the curiosity of political observers about the after affect it will have on the coalition government's functioning.

Speaking to media persons after the meeting he held with leaders of scheduled castes and tribes at the party office on Friday, Gowda wanted to know whether Vokkaligas caused the downfall of Kharge in Kalaburagi, and whether JD(S) is responsible for the defeat of Muniyappa in Kolar. He said it is common knowledge that it is not possible for others to defeat Mallikarjun Kharge. "People keep saying that I and Kharge should not have been defeated. Everyone knows who defeated whom. Is it not the fact that the Congressmen had defeated Ambedkar twice?" he questioned, in an apparent rebuttal to the Congress leaders repeated claim that forming the coalition with the JD(S) had cost them their seats.

Deve Gowda also told the media persons that when the coalition government had been formed, he had told the Congress high command to make Kharge, Muniyappa or some other senior Congress leader the chief minister as his party had only 37 MLAs. "But the senior leaders of that party insisted that Kumaraswamy should become the chief minister. I am telling this honestly," he stated.