The former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday hit out at Janata Dal (Secular) national president and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda for his recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and once again called the regional party the ‘B team’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Speaking to reporters after inducting the former MLC C.R. Manohar from the JD(S), the former MLA Nagaraju from the BJP and other leaders and their supporters into the Congress, Mr. Siddaramaiah accused the regional party of indulging in “family politics”.
“The JD(S) is a party of family politics. Now the eighth member from the family [Mr. Deve Gowda’s family] has entered politics. Remaining members of the family will also become elected representatives. They field family members where they can win. In places where they will lose, they field others. This is family politics,” the Congress leader said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, said the JD(S) had formed a government with the BJP in the past. “That’s the reason we call the JD(S) the B team of the BJP. The JD(S) has no ideology and its leaders indulge in opportunistic politics.” Only the Congress could stick to its ideology and fight against the “communal” BJP in elections, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
The Congress leader was referring to a recent meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Gowda in Delhi and a possible alliance between the BJP and the JD(S) for the Legislative Council elections scheduled for December 10.
KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar welcomed all those who joined the Congress and said leaders from the BJP and the JD(S) had joined without any pre-conditions. “There is no difference between old and new members in the party. Anyone who joins us is part of us. Without indulging in personality cult, work for the party,” he told the newcomers.
Noting that there was a pro-Congress wave in the State, Mr. Shivakumar said the party would win maximum number of seats in the Council polls.