H D Kumaraswamy
Credit: PTI File Photo
Channapatna (Karnataka): Hitting back at the ruling Congress leaders for calling him and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as “migrants” in Channapatna that goes for by-polls on November 13, JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy questioned Priyanka Gandhi’s candidacy from Kerala’s Wayanad for Lok Sabha by-poll there.
He pointed to Priyanka Gandhi’s mother and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s nationality, while targeting the grand old party.
Nikhil Kumaraswamy is BJP-JD(S) alliance’s joint candidate from Channapatna that goes for by-polls along with Shiggaon and Sandur Assembly segments.
“How am I a migrant? I will be buried in Ramanagara district when I die. I might have been born in Hassan district, but I was nurtured and my entire life is— Kethiganahalli village in Bidadi hobli of Ramanagara district,” Kumaraswamy said in response to him being called outsider or migrant to Channapatna.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, “….you (Congress) can field Italian born Sonia Gandhi’s daughter (Priyanka Gandhi) from Wayanad in Kerala…. I’m a Kannadiga, born in Kannada soil, how can I become a migrant here? …(If I’m a migrant, I want to ask who is she? Answer it first, let’s discuss the rest later.” Channapatna is a taluk and an assembly segment in Ramanagara district. Kumaraswamy had twice represented Channapatna, and the by-polls is necessitated as he vacated the seat and got elected to Lok Sabha from Mandya in May elections.
Nikhil is pitted against Congress' C P Yogeeshwara, a local political heavyweight in Channapatna, who just switched sides to Congress from BJP.