Congress' Zameer Ahmed accuses Kumaraswamy of being 'BJP agent before Basavakalyan bypoll

Congress leader Zameer Ahmed Khan accused JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy of being 'BJP's agent' and claimed that he was working as a dalal (broker) to get a commission from the saffron party. Addressing a rally at Basavakalyan on Tuesday ahead of the by-elections to the Vidhan Sabha constituency, the Congress leader asked Kumaraswamy where he got Rs 2 crore from and claimed that Devegowda had said earlier that they did not have money to contest in the polls. Further, Zameer Ahmed Khan said that he did not wish to talk about Devegowda's politics as it was 'different' and that he was a senior and accused the ex-Karnataka CM of fielding a candidate after taking Rs 10 crores from the BJP. Zameer Ahmed Khan said that he was ashamed to talk about Kumaraswamy and asked if the ex-CM wanted such kind of money.

Zameer Ahmed Khan calls Kumaraswamy 'BJP agent'

"Kumaraswamy from where you got the money now? Now you have fielded a Muslim candidate opposite to us. We know from where you got the money, we won't talk bad about Devegowda. Devegowda's politics is different, he is very senior. Kumarswamy is a BJP agent, after doing that agent work he got broker (Dalal) money. From where he got the money?", asked Zameer Ahmed Khan.

"I want to ask a question to JDS high command whether it is Kumarswamy or Devegowda. You all might have seen both Kumarswamy and Devegowda made a statement that we don't have money and we will not field the candidates anywhere during by-poll elections. They haven't fielded the candidate anywhere", Congress' Zameer Ahmed Khan said, charging Kumaraswamy to be a BJP agent. 

The Bypoll to the Basavakalyan constituency is scheduled to be held on April 17. While the Congress has named late MLA Narayan Rao's wife as its candidate, the BJP has picked Sharanu Salgar as its candidate. The JD(S) has decided to field Syed Yasrab Ali Quadri. 

Kumaraswamy says JD(S) is not BJP's B-team

Earlier on March 18, HD Kumaraswamy had affirmed that the Janata Dal (Secular) was not Bharatiya Janata Party's B-team and that it could contest elections on its own. He also took the occasion to refute Congress' allegations that the JD(S) was against the Muslim community, and went on to state that they had fielded a suitable Muslim Candidate for the Basavakalyan constituency. "Congress keeps saying that we are BJP's 'B' team and that we are against the Muslim community, which is not true. We have chosen a suitable Muslim candidate for Basavakalyan and bother national parties must know that we can contest elections on our merit," he said.