HDK invites Congress for public debate on who is BJP’s ‘B’ team

Launching a counterattack at Congress general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Surjewala for calling the Janata Dal (Secular) the ‘B’ team of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Hassan recently, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday challenged him to have a public debate on who the BJP’s B team is.

“Let the debate be in front of the Vidhana Soudha. You come with your Siddapurusha (Siddaramaiah). Should I fix the time and date? Or will you fix it? I await for your response with patience,” Mr. Kumaraswamy said on Twitter, adding that Mr. Surjewala had become a laughing stock by repeating the accusations.

Stating that Mr. Surjewala will be responsible for weakening the secular forces in Karnataka, he said: “Your legislature party leader (Mr. Siddaramaiah) was instrumental in allowing the State to boil communally by helping BJP to form the government and he was responsible for Operation Kamala.”

In a series of tweets that also hit out at Mr. Siddaramaiah, he asked; “Who fixed the time to dislodge coalition government? Who rolled the dice in Dharmasthala, and Cauvery (Mr. Siddaramaiah’s residence) against me and your Central leaders? Who was the invisible person behind the legislators who went to Mumbai? What did your CLP leader do?”

Accusing Mr. Siddaramaiah of conspiring to remove present Congress president M. Mallikarjun Kharge from the post of Leader of Opposition in 2008, he said: “Sitting next to a BJP agent, you have accused the JD(S) of being the BJP’s B team.