‘Media misinterpreted my speech,’ says Kumaraswamy on ‘pain of coalition’ remark

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday clarified his “Swallowing pain of coalition like Shiva” statement and said his speech was misinterpreted by media.

“That was a party program and I got emotional, Media misinterpreted my speech,” ANI quoted  Kumaraswamy as saying.

On Saturday, during an event organised by JD(S) workers to felicitate him for becoming the chief minister and waiving farmers loan, tearful Kumaraswamy had said that he was swallowing the pain of coalition government like Lord Shiva.

“You all are happy that one of your brothers has become the Chief Minister. But I am not happy. I am swallowing my pain like Vishakanta (the one who held poison in his throat, Lord Shiva),” he had said. 

However, he denied using the name of any Congress leader or the party during his emotional speech.

“I didn’t speak about Congress or any Congress leader. I didn’t mention anything about Congress in my speech,” the JD(S) leader said.

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The JD-S and the Congress had stitched a post-poll alliance after the BJP failed to cross the majority mark of 112 seats in the recent Karnataka Assembly elections.

Soon after the swearing-in of Kumaraswamy as CM, reports of a rift between the coalition partners over a bunch of issues started coming out of the political corridors.

However, with Rahul Gandhi’s intervention, both parties claimed to have successfully resolved the issue but reports of the dissatisfaction among a faction of Congress leaders kept coming on regular intervals even after the distribution of portfolios.

Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s emotional speech, Congress leader Mallikarjun kharge said that expressing such things won’t give a good message to the people and the Karnataka CM would have to be courageous to face such situations.

“You have to face problems. Simply expressing won’t give good message to people who supported secular parties. Kumaraswamy should be courageous to face such circumstances,” Kharge had said.