JD(S) is not a secular party: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Oct 21: Continuing his attack against the JD(S), ahead of the bypolls to two assembly seats in Karnataka, Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the party led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is "not secular".
Hitting back, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said, his party doesn't require any certificate from Siddaramaiah on being secular, as he reminded him about his roots.
"JD(S) had formed a government with BJP in the past (in 2006), they have joined hands with BJP in the Mysuru corporation, what strong ideology does the JD(S) have? How much ever they may try to appease minority or Muslim for votes, voters are clever," Siddaramaiah said.
Speaking to reporters here, the leader of opposition in the state assembly, accused the JD(S) of having "internal understanding" with the BJP, and that's the reason they have fielded minority community candidates in Hangal and Sindagi constituencies that are going for bypolls.
"Will JD(S) be secular despite having formed a government with the BJP?... I can only say that JD(S) is not a secular party, they are a regional party, but not secular. They have Secular in their party name, but they are not secular in their conduct or behavior, they are communal," he added.
Sharply reacting, Kumaraswamy said, "Should Siddaramaiah give certificates to my party as to whether it is secular or not? All communities are respected in our party. We don't want any sermons from him."
Pointing out that Siddaramaiah grew as a leader in JD(S) under Deve Gowda's leadership, he said, "9 senior Muslim leaders in the state are JD(S) and Deve Gowda's contribution.."
Siddaramaiah had recently urged the voters from the minority community not to cast even a single vote to the JD(S) during the Hangal and Sindagi bypolls, as voting for the regional party, means voting for the BJP.
The former Chief Minister had even accused the JD(S) of deliberately fielding minority community candidates in both the constituencies to help the BJP.
Bypolls will be held on October 30, while counting of votes will take place on November 2.
The by-elections have been necessitated as the seats fell vacant following the death of Sindagi JD(S) legislator M C Managuli and BJP's C M Udasi from Hangal.
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AAP leaders once sought justice for Nirbhaya, today they are supporting an accused: Maliwal
New Delhi (PTI): AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, who has been accused by her party of being part of a conspiracy to frame Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a false case, on Sunday said her party colleagues once sought justice for Nirbhaya but today they are supporting a person accused of assaulting her.
She said if AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is in jail in connection with the Delhi excise police case, had been here "maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!"
Maliwal has alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar assaulted her on May 13 when she went to the CM's residence to meet him. The Aam Aadmi Party has trashed her allegations and claimed Maliwal was acting at the behest of the BJP to frame Kejriwal in a fake case.
Maliwal, who has been associated with the AAP since its inception more than 10 years ago, said on Sunday there was a time when "we all used to come out on the streets to get justice for Nirbhaya".
"Today, 12 years later, we have come out on the streets to save the accused (Bibhav Kumar) who made the CCTV footage disappear and formatted the phone? I wish they had used this much force for Manish Sisodia ji. Had he been here, maybe things wouldn't have been so bad for me!" she wrote.
Police have arrested Kumar in connection with the case.
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