Union Steel Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy turned up the heat on Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah Tuesday, accusing him of abandoning governance duties in favor of political slugfests over the phone tapping saga. The row intensified after reports implicated the CM in surveilling Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, a frontrunner for his job—a charge the CM rejected vehemently.
On X, Kumaraswamy unleashed a series of posts: ‘Busy responding instead of ruling.’ Citing media exposes on the scandal, he defended his stance as addressing open questions, not inventing scandals.
Despite a commanding assembly majority, Kumaraswamy charged the Congress government with prioritizing ‘chair wars’ over policy. The tapping issue, he claimed, reeks of Congress’s leadership battles, suspicions shared by foes and fair-weather media allies alike.
He called for straightforward accountability over evasion tactics. Recalling his minority-government CM stints, Kumaraswamy vouched for clean rule, free of surveillance sins.
Evoking Congress’s Emergency sins, he portrayed the party as democracy’s perennial foe, manifesting now in MLA factions, CM-Deputy CM clashes, and media intimidation via ad blacklists.
Caste-religion polarization for votes? ‘Poison for democracy,’ Kumaraswamy thundered. He slammed Siddaramaiah’s PM Modi jabs as desperate and decried systemic opponent harassment, nicknaming a probe squad the ‘Siddaramaiah Investigation Team.’
In a sly aside, he prodded the CM to recall his pre-Congress party ties, insisting time would appraise his deeds. As barbs fly, Karnataka governance hangs in balance amid Congress’s self-inflicted chaos.