Bengaluru: The allegations made against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of tapping telephones of MLAs has forced him to join hands with his deputy D K Shivakumar, amidst power sharing row between them.
Shivakumar, who has organised a party for all the Congress MLAs to mark his 6th year in office as KPCC President has also agreed to bury the hatchet and sing the solidarity song.
Following rumors that the telephones of some of the MLAs are being tapped by the government, both the opposition parties -- BJP and JD(S) launched an attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Without naming Siddaramaiah, the two parties charged that the telephones Congress party MLAs were being tapped to know their allegiances, in the wake of power sharing between the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister.
Reacting sharply to the allegations, Siddaramaiah said that the opposition was trying to create differences between him and Shivakumar, whose relationship was very good. Even Shivakumar responded saying that his relationship with the Chief Minister was good and there was no need for anyone to interfere in that.
Launching a counter attack, Siddaramaiah said that there were telephone tapping allegations against Kumaraswamy, when he was the Chief Minister for the second time. It was said that he had got telephones of seven seers of various mutts also. ``Besides, his father H D Deve Gowda lost the Prime Minister post for snooping into Congress leaders' affairs,'' Siddaramaiah charged.
Terming Siddaramaiah's allegations as the result of his `guilty conscience' admitting the truth, Kumaraswamy said that the Congress was a partner in the government, where he was alleged of tapping telephones. ``There was no independent power for me as a Chief Minister and there was no need to know what was happening behind me. We have no problems with your friendship between your Deputy. The people are waiting for the day when you stand by your promise made to your friend when you became chief minister for the second time,'' he said.
Union Minister Prahlad Joshi reacted sharply and said that the Congress was a partner to the government when Kumaraswamy became the Chief Minister for the second time. ``What were you doing then? After that, your government came to power. What did you do about the telephone tapping that took place during your previous regime? These were all attention diversion tactics,'' he charged.
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Meanwhile, D K Shivakumar is silently working on the party he is hosting to mark his six years in the office as KPCC President. The party will be in a private hotel and all the Congress MLAs are invited.
D K Shivakumar is one of the longest serving KPCC Presidents. When asked if he was going to break the record of Dr G Parameshwar, who was KPCC President, Shivakumar said that he was not interested.
``When I was the first time MLA, I became a minister. The party needs fresh faces now and we need to make way for younger generations. I am not interested in continuing as the KPCC President anymore,'' he added.
