Congress hits back at Kumaraswamy's 'poaching' claims; 'We supported JD(S) multiple times'

In a big twist, former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy hit out at the Congress ahead of the Rajya Sabha voting, accusing the grand old party of attempting to poach Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs to vote in favour of its candidates. Responding to the senior leader's accusations, Congress on Friday listed out several times when the party had stood by the JD(S) -- from backing HD Deve Gowda as the Prime Minister to Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister.

Speaking to Republic TV, Congress MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain said, "I can only say good luck to Kumaraswamy and JD(S). We supported HD Deve Gowda to become Prime Minister even though JD(S) had no numbers. We supported Kumaraswamy to become CM. Support today was the need of the hour to stop one BJP candidate from winning. It will be a very close contest. By this election, the future direction of parties will be clear."

On the other hand, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar strongly denied the 'poaching' allegations and asserted that the party had issued a whip only to its MLAs. "We are 69 in number, we issued a whip to all 69. They requested me also, and they requested a lot of other leaders also," he said, wishing HD Kumaraswamy and JD(S) 'all the best.'

Meanwhile, Congress' M. B. Patil cited the party's previous instances of support for the JD(S) and hit back at Kumaraswamy's 'secularism' jibe. "Many times Congress supported them. We have filled the candidates first. Keep the BJP way then and uphold secularism. He can not blame our party," he asserted.

Similar remarks were issued by Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao who, in turn, accused the BJP of 'playing politics. "We have supported HD Deve Gowda ji in Rajya Sabha last time. Their approach has been very different. They are doing a blame game. If JD(S) doesn't support (us), BJP will get a slight edge. BJP is playing their own politics," he alleged.

Congress has dismantled secularism in India: Kumaraswamy

Refusing to mince his words ahead of the RS voting, Kumaraswamy on Friday morning accused the Congress of 'dismantling secularism in India'. The leader alleged that Karnataka LoP Siddaramaiah had asked JD(S) MLAs to vote for the grand-old-party's candidates for the Rajya Sabha election.

"Today, before local media he (Siddaramaiah) has said that he didn't write to my MLAs. He had even tweeted the letter from his social media account. Now, he's denying what he said yesterday. This shows his double standards. We have confidence that we have 30-31 votes. K Srinivasa Gowda has expressed that he will vote for Congress. Now, let us see," she said, adding that Congress has dismantled secularism in India.