Kumaraswamy Slams Former Ally, Says Cong Not Safe for Bengaluru

The political slugfest has intensified in Bengaluru, ahead of by-elections in the state and the guns are out.

On Wednesday, 14 October, the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S) fielded candidates for Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly seat.

Targeting Congress over the recent violence in DG Halli and KJ Halli areas of Bengaluru, JD(S) chief HD Kumaraswamy ripped into the former ally and said: “These Congress people are not the protectors of the citizens of this state. They are the main culprits in that raid. Now people think of that issue...the Congress is not safe for the people of Bengaluru city. I think they will take a proper decision in this election,” NDTV reported.

Kumaraswamy, who was accompanying his party candidate V Krishnamurthy for his nomination filing, said the “real picture” has now emerged, NDTV reported.

In 2018, JDS and Congress formed an alliance to keep BJP out of power in the state. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had offered Kumaraswamy the Chief Minister's post.

The alliance didn’t live long and it collapsed in 2019, as some of the MLAs walked out. Both the parties blamed the BJP for the defection.

Congress candidate H Kusuma, accompanied by former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Congress state chief D K Shivakumar also filed his nomination papers.

Siddaramaiah avoided the DA Halli issue and said: “There may be some differences between Sampath Raj and Akhanda Srinivas Murthy and Zakir,” reported NDTV.

The violence, that took place in August killed three people after the police opened fire at a violent mob in East Bengaluru. The violence began after a Facebook post by a relative of Congress legislator Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, reportedly insulting Prophet Mohammed, created outrage. The house of a Congress MLA, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, was set ablaze by the mob.

The BJP had said the Congress and the SDPI workers were involved in the clashes.

(With inputs from PTI and NDTV)