Gowda faces heat for abusive remark

NEW DELHI: A day after he hurled a series of invectives against Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda finds himself in the middle of a huge political row, with the Congress joining hands with its chief adversary , the BJP, in condemning the outburst.

While the former prime minister remained unrepentant, merely expressing his “regrets” for his remarks “if they had hurt anyone,’’ the BJP’s Karnataka unit threatened legal action if he refused to apologise for his outburst . The former prime minister, while attacking Mr Yeddyurappa in Bangalore on Sunday, had called him a “bloody bastard.’’ He did not stop at this, and used a Kannadiga abuse bosudi magafor the chief minister which is said to mean “son of a bitch.’’

“We highly object this kind of conduct by Mr Gowda and demand that he should immediately express unconditional apology to the people of the Karnataka or else he will have to face legal action.” Karnataka BJP spokesman and former union minister V Dhananjay Kumar said.

The party’s national leaders too came down heavily on Mr Gowda, maintaining that his tirade was shameful , had compromised on decency in politics and had brought shame to democracy.

The principal ruling party at the Centre, the Congress, sunk its differences with the BJP for the time being, and joined in the condemnation of the remarks made by Mr Gowda. “We condemn the language (of Gowda) if it was used. There is no place for abuse in politics," party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

He said the Congress was against the “politics of abuse” and asked political parties retrain from the use of such language. “Such words have no place in a democratic country," Mr Singhvi said. He also added that the Congress was in favour of a strong and vigilant Opposition in Karnataka and had never hesitated to criticise the policies of the ruling BJP in the state.

The BJP stepped up its counter-attack on the former prime minister, alleging that the acquisition of land for the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Project, which had invited Mr Gowda’s ire, had, in fact, done by the previous governments led by the JD(S) and the Congress.

Describing Mr Gowda’s vituperative outburst against Mr Yeddyurappa as “unpalatable” and “obnoxious public behaviour,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy claimed that the MoU for the BMIC project was signed on February 20, 1995 when none other than Mr Gowda was the chief minister of Karnataka.

“The Project Frame Work agreement was signed on May 3, 1997 when Mr J H Patel of the JD(S) was the state chief minister, while Mr Gowda was the country’s prime minister. A total of 18,701.27 acre land was acquired during Mr Patel's tenure,” Mr Rudy said.
Another 2,236.06 acre was acquired, the party said, during the chief ministership of Mr S M Krishna, now the country’s foreign minister. “Mr Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy himself signed an MoU for 204 acre of land during his chief ministership,’’ the BJP spokesman said, and added that Mr Yeddyurappa was only complying with the directions of the Supreme Court (where a case was filed earlier) on the issue.

The present regime in Karnataka, Mr Rudy contended, had only issued notification for acquiring 3.01 acre land to “provide missing links.’’

“The government has not transferred any land in so far as Sompura village (where farmers are said to be adversely affected) is concerned,’’ he said.