Bengaluru: MP Ananth Kumar Hegde took a dig at Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy recently, accusing him of staying away from the Tipu Jayanti celebrations deliberately.
Hegde went on to say that former prime minister and JDS supremo, H D Deve Gowda advised his son, HDK to stay away from the Tipu Jayanti celebrations in order to prevent him from suffering the same fate as Siddaramaiah. He was referring to Siddaramaiah’s defeat in the Chamundeshwari constituency. Hegde claimed that the former CM’s defeat in the Assembly elections was the result of his overzealous support of the Muslim community.
Meanwhile, the CM’s office released a statement saying that the CM could not attend the celebrations owing to his I’ll health.
The CM’s deputy, Dr G Parameshwara, who was supposed to inaugurate the celebrations in HDK’s stead was also unavailable during the event. While it was reported that he had flown to Singapore at the time, Minority Welfare Minister, Zameer Ahmed Khan clarified that the DCM had left to visit a minister who was ill and availing treatment there. He also defended the DCM saying that the latter was unaware of the change in the schedule of the programme.