New Delhi: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Wednesday responded to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s jibes accusing him of choosing the BJP over the Congress as an alliance partner.Hours after Kharg’s speech in the House of Commons, Dev Gowda wrote a letter saying he had a “forced marriage” to the old party but had to “divorce” it because it was an “abusive relationship.”
The letter read: “My dear old friend Shri Mallikarjun Kharge made light-hearted comments in the House today that I had ‘loved’ them (Congress) but ended up ‘marrying’ Modi ji (BJP). He also said that he did not know the reason for my doing so. I was not in the House when Shri Kharge was speaking as I had to travel to Bengaluru to attend Ugadi celebrations tomorrow,” the letter read.“If I were to respond to my friend in the language of marriage, I would say I was in a ‘forced marriage’ to Congress but had to be ‘divorced’ because it was an abusive relationship,” he added.Furthermore, the former prime minister accused the Congress of “abandoning” his party after awarding the Karnataka chief ministership to Deve Gowda’s son Kumaraswamy in 2018.“Shri Kharge will remember that in 2018 Congress sent Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad and proposed Shri Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister. I did not agree with this. I said in front of everyone that Shri Kharge should be made Chief Minister. Shri Siddaramaiah was also present. However, Shri Azad insisted on Shri Kumaraswamy leadership. But after all this song, dance and a wedding, they abandoned us in 2019,” he said.“How many Congress MLAs defected to the BJP, and who sent them there, is now a known matter. Had the Congress taken action that day against those who instigated defections, my friend Shri Kharge’s position as AICC president would have been better today. So, to clarify, I did not abandon the Congress alliance. It was them who left. They left me with no option but to ‘divorce’ them and seek a more stable alliance,” he added.Earlier in the day, Mallikarjun Kharge said at the farewell ceremony that he had known Deve Gowda for more than 54 years and had worked closely with the former prime minister before his party aligned with the BJP.“I have known Deve Gowda ji for more than 54 years and I worked with him for many years. Later, I don’t know what happened… ‘Wo mohabbat humare saath kiye, shadi Modi sahab ke sath’,” Kharg said, drawing laughter from other MPs and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The collaboration entered a critical phase in 1996 when Deve Gowda became prime minister and led a Congress-backed United Front government. In Karnataka, his party JD(S) later alternated between opposing and cooperating with the Congress party.Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi also addressed the House, thanking the outgoing members for their contributions and expressing similar sentiments.“Politics has no end. The future awaits you,” the prime minister said, urging retired MPs to continue contributing to public life. He also called on the newly elected MPs to learn from senior leaders like Deve Gowda, Kharge and Sharad Pawar, pointing out their decades of parliamentary experience.Prime Minister Modi also paid special tribute to Ramdas Atharwale’s wit, saying humor and satire in the House had declined in recent years but remained alive through characters like him. Athawale is one of the 37 members who completed their term, along with other leaders including Priyanka Chaturvedi, Tiruchi Siva and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.These retirements follow elections for 37 federal parliamentary seats in 10 states, in which 26 candidates ran unopposed. The composition of the upper house has been further reshaped by political developments in states such as Bihar, where opposition abstentions helped pass the NDA.
