Yeddyurappa, Kumaraswamy unite against Karnataka CM

In the face of FIRs, two former chief ministers of Karnataka have decided to bury the hatchet. BS Yeddyurappa of BJP and HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal-Secular, the two former CMs, are in trouble over separate cases of land de-notification. The state Lok Ayukta has filed FIRs against them and both the leaders are smelling rat. And so they have decided to forge an alliance. Once arch enemies, both Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy have now become close friends; they are all set to take on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who they feel is trying to destroy them politically.

The two leaders met recently in Hubballi, a city in North Karnataka, where they spent considerable time at a common friend's house. Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy discussed at length how Siddaramaiah was allegedly trying to end their political career. On Monday, Kumaraswamy had surprised everyone by defending Yeddyurappa. "Poor Yeddyurappa? Siddaramaiah should not have done this. Yeddyurappa is yet to emerge out of the previous cases. Just because Yeddyurappa questioned Siddaramiah's performance as a CM, he is facing a barrage of new FIRs," said Kumaraswamy, whose supporters were instrumental in filing cases against Yeddyurappa when he was the CM.

Just when everyone was wondering about Kumaraswamy's sudden love for Yeddyurappa, came the revelation that the two leaders had met recently. "Both the leaders showed excellent camaraderie. They felt that Siddaramaiah was victimising them for making fun of the CM's administrative skills. They realised that they need to join hands otherwise Siddaramaiah would bulldoze them politically," said sources who were privy to the discussion between the two former CMs.

However, neither of the leaders nor their aides said anything about the secret pact. "Siddaramaiah knows that only an effective Opposition leader like Kumaraswamy can expose his hollow administration. Therefore, he is trying to silence Kumaraswamy as well as Yeddyurappa," sources in the Janata Dal-Secular alleged. The Lok Ayukta, last week, filed three FIRs against Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy for their alleged role in de-notifying more than 625 acres of prime land in and around Bengaluru when they were the CMs, between 2007 and 2012. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had castigated both the CMs in its report for flouting law to de-notify government-owned land resulting in enormous loss to the state exchequer.

Kumaraswamy termed the FIRs as politically motivated and said that he would fight them legally. It is not clear what will be the game plan of the two former CMs. But Karnataka is definitely set for an interesting duel on the political landscape. It was the JD-S which was instrumental in exposing Yeddyurappa's land de-notification files, bringing an end to his reign as the CM. Siddaramaiah is already caught up in the Arkavathy Layout land denotification scam. It is to be seen if both the former CMs take advantage of it in the coming days.

This is not for the first time that Kumaraswamy and Yeddyurappa have had a lengthy closed-door meeting. Two years ago, Yeddyurappa declared that he was burying his differences with Kumaraswamy.