Opinion

I바카라™m A Genuine BJP CM, Says Bommai!

Quite remarkable, actually, that such a clarification was needed. But then this is Karnataka, where most BJP worthies are from the Janata or Congress바카라”as HDK was happy to point out.

I바카라™m A Genuine BJP CM, Says Bommai!
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When Basavaraj Bommai (in pic) took over as Karnataka chief minister in end-July, the 바카라˜compliment바카라™ that became news came from a predecessor바카라”H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular). ­Kumaraswamy told reporters that ­Bommai was a friend and, to him, a CM from the Janata parivar.

Bommai바카라™s political roots trace back to the Janata Party바카라”his father, the late S.R. Bommai ,was Karnataka CM in 1988-89. Back in the mid-1990s, Basavaraj Bommai served as political secretary to another Janata Dal chief minister, J.H. Patel, while going on to become a member of the legislative council later that decade. Following the party바카라™s split, Bommai was in the Janata Dal (United) till 2008 when he joined the BJP.

Incidentally, one of Bommai바카라™s courtesy calls in his first week was to JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda. Several of the ministers in Karnataka바카라™s BJP government have their roots in either the Janata Dal or the Congress바카라”they had been ministers in the earlier dispensation led by B.S. Yediyurappa as well. For the record, even Siddaramaiah who headed the Congress government between 2013 and 2018 came from the same Janata Party stock. He had joined Congress in 2006.

Kumaraswamy바카라™s comments seemed to have hit a delicate spot just when the BJP is settling into a change of guard ­following several months of dissidence. Speaking to reporters last week, Bommai dismissed the remark as 바카라˜mischievous바카라™. 바카라œHe (Kumaraswamy) knows under what circumstances I left the Janata Dal,바카라 he said. 바카라œI바카라™m a genuine BJP karyakarta and a genuine BJP CM.바카라

By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore

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