Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy "most opportunistic" politicians: Yeddyurappa
Bengaluru, Nov 20: Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa Tuesday accused Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda of being the "most opportunistic" politicians in the country, as he attacked the JDS-Congress government in the state on the farmers' issues.
Extending his party's full support to the farmers' cause by calling for a state wide agitation on Wednesday, Yeddyurappa alleged that Gowda and Kumaraswamy were synonymous with "betrayal".
Yeddyurappa also hit out at Kumaraswamy for a remark he made against a protesting woman farmer at Belagavi Sunday.
"It is shameful on the part of the chief minister to make a disgraceful remark against a woman farmer. It is also arrogance to call the protesting farmers goondas and dacoits," Yeddyurappa said.
Describing the chief minister's remarks against the woman "derogatory", he lashed out at Kumaraswamy for trying to defend it.
He said those in public life should gracefully accept criticisms. Farmers protested the way they did as the chief minister backtracked from his promise, he said.
"Power seems to have gone into the chief minister's head," he said, adding that Congress leaders who are supporting Kumaraswamy's government should think over the CM's remarks.
"If they have self-respect they should ask the CM to implement the decisions or quit the post," Yeddyurappa said.
Farmers are protesting in Belagavi for the last few days demanding clearance of their pending arrears by sugar factories for the cane supplied and announcement of purchase price for sugarcane for the current season.
They had intensified their protest Sunday by "gatecrashing" their loaded trucks into "Suvarna Vidhana Soudha", the legislature complex in northern district, protesting Kumaraswamy's cancellation of his scheduled visit to meet ryots.
In a strong reaction, Kumaraswamy had described those who barged into the legislature complex as "goondas" and accused them of defaming the entire farming community.
Also, Kumaraswamy's remarks against a woman farmer while questioning her 'silence' in the last four years on the arrears issue and her farming background, had evoked sharp reaction from her.
Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, you and Deve Gowda are most opportunistic" politicians in the country," Yeddyurappa said, while attacking the duo for repeatedly not keeping their promises.
They say I had gone to their door to make me chief minister, you should be ashamed to make such statements," he said, recalling that it was Kumaraswamy who quit the Dharm Singh lead Congress-JD(S) coalition in 2006 and joined hands with the BJP to form the coalition government.
Reminding that he had given full support to the JD(S)-led 20 months government, Yeddyurappa accused Kumaraswamy of "betrayal" then.
Accusing Gowda of insulting former chief ministers like Ramakrishna Hegde and S R Bommai, he said the father-son duo had also insulted former chief minister Siddaramaiah by trying to end his political career by ensuring his loss in the Chamundeshwari assembly constituency in Mysuru.
"I think Siddaramaiah is tolerating all the insults and is waiting for the right time," he added.
Questioning Kumaraswamy about the steps taken for the benefit of farmers and common man in the last five months, he said, "the chief minister repeatedly claims credit for loan waiver, but how much loan waiver has happened so far is the question."
"Cooperative sector is in distress, not even a paise has been waived from nationalised banks who are now giving notices to farmers, you are just lying and wasting time," he added.
Yeddyurappa said the BJP would stage protest at all taluk and district centres across the state Wednesday to highlight state issues and against Kumaraswamy's "derogatory" remarks against the woman farmer.
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Assam Cong MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigns ahead of polls; party leaders claim 'all within family'
Guwahati (PTI): In a jolt to the opposition Congress, Assam's Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi on Tuesday resigned from the party, barely 20 days ahead of assembly elections in the state.
Bordoloi has sent his resignation letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, state media department chairman Bedabrata Bora told PTI in Guwahati.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh and state party chief Gaurav Gogoi, who met the MP in Delhi, claimed that it was a matter of “differences within the family” and “part of an attempt orchestrated by the CM (Himanta Biswa Sarma) through the media to malign Bordoloi politically”.
A former state cabinet minister and two-time MP from Nagaon constituency, Bordoloi's son Prateek is a Congress candidate from Margherita seat for the state polls due on April 9.
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In the one-line resignation letter addressed to Kharge, the MP said, “With an overwhelming sense of sadness today, I hereby tender my resignation from all posts, privileges and the primary membership of the Indian National Congress.”
A copy of the letter is available with PTI.
Bora said state party chief Gaurav Gogoi and AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam Jitendra Singh talked to Bordoloi over the issue at the national capital.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Singh said, “The Congress blood runs in the veins of Bordoloi. We are members of one family and will remain so.”
He claimed that Bordoloi has no offer to join the BJP that he was aware of and said, “No person will go to the BJP. Bhupen Borah recently went, and now he is running to secure a party ticket. No one even greets or invites to share the dais.”
The AICC leader was referring to former state Congress president Borah quitting in February and joining the ruling saffron party. Singh, who had called on Borah along with top state leaders immediately after his resignation, had made similar claims of the leader not leaving the Congress.
Gogoi, also talking to reporters, said, “I condemn such news (of Bordoloi’s resignation). The chief minister, through the media, has been trying to malign him politically.”
He said that during the meeting with Bordoloi, they discussed after party strategy to reach out to the people for the ensuing polls.
Bordoloi was the chairman of the manifesto committee for the Assembly polls.
A Cotton College (now university) and Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus, the Nagaon MP has been a four-time MLA from Margherita constituency till 2016, being associated with the state NSUI since his student days.
The Congress has three Lok Sabha MPs from Assam -- state president Gogoi (from Jorhat), Bordoloi and Rakibul Hussain (Dhubri).
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Another senior Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) leader and a close aide of Bordoloi, Nabajyoti Talukdar, also resigned from the party earlier on Tuesday.
A ticket contender from the Guwahati Central seat, Talukdar resigned after another member was named for the seat, a party source said.
Bordoloi had recently sent a letter to Jitendra Singh, stating that he could resign from the party if incumbent Lahorighat MLA Asif Mohammad Nazar was renominated for the Assembly polls.
The MP said in the letter that Nazar's close aide Emdadul Islam was involved in an attack on Bordoloi and other party leaders in April 2025, and was also charge-sheeted by the police in the case.
He also claimed that Gogoi had personally met Islam earlier this year at his residence. Lahorighat comes under the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency.
VIDEO | Delhi: Nabajyoti Talukdar and Pradyut Bordoloi, who recently quit Congress, arrive at Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s residence.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 18, 2026
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/PHNLjuLAZD
