Bengaluru: At a time when Karnataka is debating whether the Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar would become Chief Minister after Bihar elections, he has dropped a bomb saying that he had an offer to join BJP during JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2018.
Speaking during release of a book on him -- 'A symbol of Loyalty - D K Shivakumar' here on Thursday, Shivakumar said that he had received the offer through an Income Tax auditor.
''During that coalition period, around 10 Congress MLAs were ready to quit the party and join hands with BJP. I rushed back from my home town Kanakapura and stopped them. That day, when I was with my brother D K Suresh, I received this call. The auditor asked whether I wished to become Deputy Chief Minister or prepared to go to jail. I chose the later,'' Shivakumar said.
''I told the auditor that Rajiv Gandhi had given the ticket for me and Bangarappa helped me to become a minister. After winning eight times, I have become Deputy Chief Minister. I am already 63 and I don't know how long I should be in politics. I have to pave the way for youngsters also. I believe in what Rajiv Gandhi used to say. Don't create followers, create leaders,'' he said.
''Subsequently, I was put in Tihar jail and I didn't budge. The blessings of lakhs of my well wishers was with me and that helped me to be strong,'' he said.
Stating that most of his political fight was against former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy, Shivakumar said that he joined hands with them when the party told him.
Shivakumar said that 99% of what had been written in the book was true. '' Since I grew up in a secular mindset, I said that I knew about RSS also. They made a big controversy of that statement. Since I didn't wanted to hurt the feelings of my followers, I apologised voluntarily,'' he added.
