Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday met sulking Congress leader C.M. Ibrahim and invited him to re-join the Janata Dal (Secular).
Talking to reporters after meeting Ibrahim at the latter’s house in Frazer Town here, Kumaraswamy said that he had not only come to meet Ibrahim but also to invite him to his party.
“For Ibrahim, JD(S) is like his old home. He is most welcome to join us back. He will be welcomed with open arms. Our relations never reached to flashpoint irrespective of his decisions in the past,” he said.
According to him, Ibrahim had been handed a raw deal by the Congress.
On his part, Ibrahim only said that he would travel across the state to consult his supporters across the state after December 15 prior to taking any decision. “I will soon meet JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda soon in this regard,” he said but did not reveal his actual plans.
He claimed that he who asked Karnataka Leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah to contest in Badami, which gave him the second lease of political life.
“I am not complaining. It happens sometime people tend to change sooner than one expects them to. But I do not want to make it an issue now,” he said while amply exhibiting he was upset with Congress in general and Siddaramaiah in particular for sidelining him.
Ibrahim had been a close follower of former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda and served as Civil Aviation Minister in his cabinet. But, Gowda sacked him from JD(S), along with Siddaramaiah, in 2005 for organising AHINDA rallies in the state.
After 2005, Ibrahim became an integral part of Siddarmaiah’s coterie until he became Karnataka Chief Minister in 2013. Their relations started souring thereafter.
AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits) is a political term coined by Karnataka’s first backward leader Devraj Urs, and same was used by Siddaramaiah between 2004-05 which largely helped him to become part of Congress and later become CM also.
