Heading coalition like drinking poison, says tearful HDK

Bengaluru: Reflecting on the strains in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said he was "not happy" being in the top post and was swallowing the pain like 'Vishakantha' (Lord Shiva), who drank poison.

The Congress and the JD(S) had bitterly fought against each other for the May 12 Assembly polls but joined hands to form the government as the election delivered a hung verdict.

"You are all happy that your elder or younger brother has become the chief minister, but I am not happy," an emotional Kumaraswamy said while addressing JD(S) workers at a function held by the party to felicitate him here on Saturday.

"I'm swallowing the pain like Vishakantha (Lord Shiva who drank poison to save the world)," he said.

On seeing the chief minister wiping tears, the crowd shouted, "We are with you."

Kumaraswamy said that ahead of the state polls, he had asked the people to make him the chief minister to bring in a pro-people government that would solve the issues of the farmers, the poor and the needy, "but they did not show their trust in me".

He said the people showered him with love and affection when he travelled across the state, but while voting forgot his party and candidates.

His deputy, G Parameshwara of the Congress, however, brushed off the matter, saying a chief minister "has to be always happy".

Kumaraswamy has been on a bumpy road since assuming charge on May 23 as the head of the coalition government, confronting bickering over portfolio allocation and presentation of the budget.

Presenting his government's first budget on July 5, Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, unveiled a Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver and subsequently announced an additional crop loan waiver of Rs 10,700 crore from cooperative banks.

Recently, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is also the head of the Congress-JD(S) coordination committee, in a letter to Kumaraswamy, had pressed for withdrawing the decision on petrol and diesel price hike.