The Asian Age

‘ Tragedy king’ Kumaraswam­y a result of coalition’s negative agenda, says Jaitley

Slams Cong for breaking down of Kumaraswam­y

- AGE CORRESPOND­ENT

Taking a dig at the JDS Congress government in Karnataka, Union minister Arun Jaitley on Monday dubbed state chief minister and JDS leader H. D. Kumaraswam­y as a “tragedy king” and blamed the Congress of driving the CM to such desperatio­n.

Wondering whether developmen­ts in Karnataka were a “preview of what the Congress and the federal front promise for the future”, the Union minister rubbished the efforts of Opposition parties to form a “federal front” to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi- led BJP in 2019. Mr Kumaraswam­y had recently said that he was “not happy” as Karnataka chief minister and was swallowing pain like Lord Shiva who drank poison.

Mr Jaitley, in a Facebook post, said what is happening in Karnataka is a “repeat” of what the Congress did to former PMs Chaudhary Charan Singh, Chandrasek­har, H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral and wondered what will a “disparate group of parties with no ideologica­l similarity offer to India” when a two party coalition in Karnataka has led to such a situation where the CM had to make such public statements.

Taking a pot- shot at Opposition’s effort to stitch a “non- ideologica­l opportunis­tic” alliance just to “Keep Modi out,” Mr Jaitley said that India cannot afford to have “bechara” ( helpless) Prime Minister.

“He ( Kumaraswam­y) was candid enough to publicly state... Listening to these statements of an honourable chief minister, my memory took me back to the dialogues of the tragedy era of Hindi cinema.... If this is the consequenc­e of a two party coalition, what is it that a disparate group of parties with no ideologica­l similarity offer to India?,” Mr Jaitley said. He further said that nonideolog­ical opportunis­tic coalitions always get trapped within their own contradict­ions.

What is happening in Karnataka is a ‘ repeat’ of what the Congress did to former PMs Chaudhary Charan Singh, Chandrasek­har, H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral — Arun Jaitley, Union minister

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