Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said it won’t be surprising if JD(S), which is now in alliance with the BJP, merges with the saffron party in the days ahead.
Calling former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led party “communal” following its alliance with the BJP, he urged Janata Dal (Secular), to remove the word ‘Secular’ from its name.
“There will be political polarisation and polarisation of votes in the country in the days to come, with communal forces on one side and seculars on the other. BJP will never come out of Hindutva and their plan of creating a Hindu Rashtra. Deve Gowda and family have joined them,” Siddaramaiah said.
Addressing a party event here, he said, JD(S) is not a political party, it is a Deve Gowda and family party. “It’s the party of a family.”
“It won’t be surprising if tomorrow JD(S) merges with the BJP….I somehow feel that it will remain as a separate political party until Deve Gowda is there and won’t merge for political reasons, but after that it will merge,” he said, adding that these days more than BJP, JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy is speaking against the Congress government.
The chief minister was speaking after inducting former JD(S) MLAs Gowri Shankar of Tumakuru Rural constituency and Dasarahalli’s R Manjunath into Congress.
Claiming that more people from JD(S) will be joining Congress in the days ahead and, in case he reveals their names today, they might be pressured by JD(S) leadership, he said, “JD(S) MLAs were kept in a Hassan resort and were forced to undergo certain things. They might do black magic too….no one should fear such things.”
Kumaraswamy was jealous of him and hence was spreading lies about him, Siddaramaiah said. “I got two chairs done from Leather Industries Development Corporation Ltd. of Karnataka (LIDKAR), for which the government pays. Kumaraswamy alleged someone brought it for me paying Rs 2 crore. Will two chairs cost Rs 2 crore? only lies…”
“Kumaraswamy is 99.99999 per cent of lies out of one hundred, he only speaks lies,” he added.
Further calling the regional party “communal”, the chief minister said, “I won’t call the Janata Dal — ‘S’ (Secular), because after joining hands with BJP they have to remove ‘S’. They don’t have the eligibility to have ‘S’ with their party name, because they are no longer a secular party.”
“The leaders have quit communal Janata Dal and have joined Secular Congress and I welcome them,” he said.
