A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader R Ashoka alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was using government machinery to spy on legislators associated with state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, the CM has hit out against the Opposition.
Ashoka, who is the Leader of the Opposition, told reporters that Siddaramaiah had formed a team led by an officer of the rank of SP to spy on MLAs who were backing Shivakumar.
“Now, just like how Kumaraswamy used to form SITs against different opposition leaders, a SIT has been set up against them too. It is an invisible SIT. Without any formal order, they are monitoring who goes where, who meets whom, and what conversations are happening over the phone. You can call this phone tapping too,” Ashok alleged.
Ashoka’s allegations were made amid continuing speculation over a change of command in the state and statements on the subject being made by various Congress leaders. Adding fuel to the fire was a recent dinner meeting at a private hotel in Bengaluru which was attended by MLAs considered close to Shivakumar.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy also backed Ashoka.
“R Ashoka is a responsible opposition leader in Karnataka. He must have had some information, and he only expressed what he knew. Some baseless leaders are talking rubbish against Ashok, who is a respectable opposition leader,” Narayanaswamy said.
Congress leaders, however, have dismissed these claims.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah himself rubbished the allegations on Tuesday, March 3, in a post on X, calling them “desperate statements” of a “jobless Opposition”.
Accusing Ashok and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy of trying to “sour” his relationship with Shivakumar since the Congress formed the government in mid-2023. Their comments would have “no effect on our relationship, which is like milk and honey”, Siddarmaaiah said.
“We are a party with internal democracy. The Congress party is not the BJP, which trembles before the Prime Minister, nor is it the JDS, which is ruled by a single family. None of our MLAs are supporters of me or DK Shivakumar. All are supporters of the Congress party. Within the framework of party discipline, they all have the freedom to express their opinions individually and have meals together,” he said, referring to the dinner meeting. .”
Siddaramaiah said that all Congress workers and leaders including himself and Shivakumar would adhere to the orders of the party high command.
Siddaramaiah alleged that in 2018, when Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister, BY Vijayendra, the current BJP state president, had alleged that the phone of Nirmalanda Nath Swami of Adichunchanagiri was tapped. “The CBI, which investigated this, had said that the phones of not just one Swamiji, but seven Swamijis were tapped. Will the BJP simply leave Kumaraswamy alone, who has proven himself untrustworthy? They may have also set up spies against him.”
“Kumaraswamy was probably taught espionage by his father. It is recorded in the pages of history that the Congress party withdrew its support for Deve Gowda because he spied on Sitaram Kesari, the Congress party president who made him the Prime Minister. It is a regrettable fact that due to distrust and pettiness, a Kannadiga did not remain the prime minister for a long time,” Siddaramaiah said.
He urged Kumaraswamy and Ashoka, to work “as a constructive opposition party” and not waste time in “crooked politics”.