MANDYA: Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy, who is the NDA candidate from Mandya Lok Sabha seat, became the target of a Congress attack with Congress MLA Ramesh Babu Bandisiddegowda raising questions over the former’s health issues.
Speaking at a Congress workers’ meeting at Malavalli on Friday, Srirangapatna MLA Ramesh Babu said Kumaraswamy heads to the hospital as elections approach.
“In three days he gets a heart surgery done and, on the fourth day, he is travelling everywhere. Cheluvarayaswamy (minister) too has the same heart issue, but if he gets admittted, he won’t step out for a month. But how Kumaraswamy is up and about on the third day itself is a mystery”, he said.
Reacting to the Congress MLA, JD(S) youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy said, “There is no need to prove to anyone that my father underwent a heart surgery. At this age, my father has undergone heart surgeries thrice. Making such comments will not bode well for the Congress”.
Former minister C S Puttaraju and former MLA Suresh Gowda too have criticised Ramesh Bandisiddegowda’s comments saying that Kumaraswamy’s health deteriorated because he strove to make such people as leaders. “If the Congress leaders have doubts, they can check the hospital records. They can even question the doctor who came from America”, they said.
The comment has riled JD(S) workers and may affect the Congress prospects in Mandya. In the previous election, the JD(S) leaders had made unsavoury comments against Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh had gone against their favour. Now, it remains to be seen if the Congress state leadership will put a stop to such distasteful remarks by its leaders in the election season.