‘Want to Step Back From Politics’: Ex-Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy

Former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy. 

(Photo: IANS)

Days after his coalition government collapsed, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Saturday, 3 August, said he wants to "step back" from politics and termed his entry into the field accidental. Expressing unhappiness over the current state of politics, the JD(S) leader said it was not for good people as it was dominated by hatred and caste.

Speaking to people at Madya he said, “Be prepared for elections very soon, may happen on the 17 seats (constituencies of disqualified MLAs) or elections may even happen on all 224 constituencies. I am sure that this Karnataka government will not stay for long.”

“There will be no coalition. We don't need any coalition now. I don't need power, I need your love,” Kumaraswamy confidently added.

"Today’s politics is not for good people. Today’s politics is filled with infatuation towards caste, hate politics... The way certain feelings are instigated in people by a section, the way youth today are deflecting from their path...can I correct all these things? God will see," Kumaraswamy said.

Speaking to reporters at Hassan, he said:

“Don’t bring my family into this repeatedly. I’m not here to stick on in politics...looking at today’s politics, I myself want to step back from politics. I have come into politics accidentally, I became chief minister accidentally....”

HD Kumaraswamy

Kumaraswamy also rejected reports that his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy was likely to be the JD(S) candidate from KR Pet, where by-election is necessitated following the disqualification of rebel party MLA Narayanagowda.

Nikhil had tasted defeat during the Lok Sabha polls in the party bastion of Mandya against independent candidate and actor Sumalatha Ambareesh, who was supported by the BJP.

Kumaraswamy resigned as chief minister on 23 July, with the 14-month-old Congress-JD(S) coalition government being defeated in the floor test, after a spate of resignations by alliance MLAs, who also abstained during the confidence vote.

Following this, 17 legislators – 14 from the Congress and three from JD(S) – were disqualified by the then Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. The MLAs were subsequently expelled from their respective parties.

During the trust vote too, Kumaraswamy had said his entry into politics and becoming the CM was accidental, as he was offered the chief ministership by the Congress at a time when he was mulling staying away from politics after the May 2018 Assembly polls in which his party ended up a distant third.

The Congress and JD(S), which had contested against each other in the Assembly polls, joined hands to form the government as the election threw up a hung verdict. By joining hands, they kept the BJP, the single-largest party, out of power.

Following the collapse of the Kumaraswamy government on 23 July, BJP’s BS Yediyurappa was sworn-in as chief minister on 26 July and he subsequently proved the majority in the Assembly on 29 July.

(This story has been edited for clarity.)