Former PM Deve Gowda abuses Karnataka CM

One of the drawbacks of public life is that all moments, pleasant and otherwise, are likely to be captured by the camera. Politicians need to be particularly wary of this.

Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda may have forgotten this little fact when he was caught in an ugly moment on Sunday.

The veteran politician was recorded publicly questioning the legitimacy of Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa's birth, calling him a “bloody b---”.

Later, however, he claimed that the insult was not hurled at the CM.

Deve Gowda, who had joined farmers protesting against land acquisition for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project on the outskirts of Bangalore, shouted: “Who is he, that bloody b---!”

While Deve Gowda’s invective shocked political circles, Yeddyurappa said, “I will not stoop to his level. Gowda seems to have lost his mental balance. It is the height of his frustration. It shows his culture. For a person of the stature of a former PM, he has shown how cheap he can act. I will not be cowed down by his blackmailing tactics.”

Asked if he was considering legal action, Yeddyurappa said, “I have no plans to take legal action. I leave it to the people to judge.”

Deve Gowda’s son and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, appealing for an end to the verbal duel between the two leaders, requested the media not to drag the issue further.

Explaining the circumstances in which Deve Gowda lost his cool, Kumaraswamy said, “He is diabetic and he has been agitating under the hot sun for the past three days. It would have had its effect. It is better not to prolong it [the controversy].”

Yeddyurappa had on Saturday criticised Deve Gowda for joining the farmers’ protest even though the latter himself had cleared the project when he was Karnataka's chief minister in 1995.

Deve Gowda later told a TV channel that he was referring to state advocate-general Ashok Harnally. He accused the advocate general of misleading the Supreme Court on land allotment for the BMIC.

Deve Gowda, who intensified the JD(S) agitation against the BMIC project being implemented by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) over the last three days, has accused Yeddyurappa and Harnally of being in cahoots with NICE to enable transfer of thousands of acres of farm land to the project. He termed Yeddyurappa and Harnally as “misfits” for their posts and that it was high time the duo was kicked out.