Kumaraswamy cries 'Congress destroyed my goodwill'; claims 'Would be CM if I'd chosen BJP'

Speaking to reporters in Mysuru on Saturday evening, JD(S) leader and ex-Karnataka minister HD Kumaraswamy said that joining hands with the Congress has destroyed the goodwill that he had earned. He also claimed that he would have continued to be the Chief Minister had he allied with BJP. Moreover, he said that he agreed to form a coalition government with Congress because of the insistence of party supremo and his father HD Deve Gowda. He, however, clarified that he was not blaming Gowda for the fate of his government and he respects his father's "lifelong commitment towards secular identity."

Kumaraswamy added that he fell into the "trap" and accused Congress leader Siddaramaiah of a conspiracy, as he stated that even BJP had not "betrayed" him to that level. "The goodwill that I had earned from the people of the state in 2006-07 (as CM) and which I had maintained for 12 years despite the big campaign against me for not transferring power to BJP, everything got destroyed by joining hands with the Congress. I might have been Chief Minister till now if I had chosen BJP."

Slamming Siddaramaiah he said, "They (Congress) said that my politics was Taj Westend Hotel politics. But they cheated us. They made strategies against me and to bring me down from CM chair. Siddaramaiah doesn't need to speak about my party, better let him concentrate on his own politics."

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JDS with BJP and Congress

BJP and JDS had formed a coalition government in 2006 with Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister and Yediyurappa as his deputy, under a power-sharing formula of 20 months each. However, the government had collapsed as JDS did not transfer power to BJP, which later went on to win the next assembly elections and form its first-ever government in the south. Similarly in 2018, JDS allied with Congress but on 23 July, 2019, his 14-month-old government fell, after 17 of its legislators resigned and were eventually disqualified under anti-defection laws. In Lok Sabha polls, the alliance of JDS and Congress won one seat each while the BJP won 25 out of the total 28 seats in the state, after which it announced their breakup. This had come after constant griping at each other, which had even witnessed a tearful Kumaraswamy express his regret about having drunk from the poisoned chalice of coalition government.

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